206 TIFLIS. 



have, I think, given too peaceful a colouring to their 

 picture of the country through which they drove. 

 In another place I may be able to say more of the 

 safety of the Russian post-roads. 



That the fever from which Karias derived its 

 evil name was of an exceedingly virulent nature 

 may be imagined from the fact that in one summer, 

 out of a village of three hundred inhabitants, 

 only nine were left alive. The whole place seems 

 plague-stricken in summer, even the river having 

 its disease, in the shape of a small worm, which, 

 burrowing into the skin of those who bathe in 

 it, eats away whole joints, until the part affected 

 has the appearance of being withered. One man 

 amongst those we saw at Karias had a withered 

 finger-joint, which he attributed to this cause. 



About ten o'clock we rolled ourselves up in 

 our bourkas, thanking our stars that we were not 

 settlers in the Karias steppe, though as a hunting- 

 ground it is in every way desirable. Before turning 

 in we were warned that we ought to be up early, 

 and, thanks to the too lively nature of our couches, 

 we were up long even before we need have been. 

 At one o'clock the misty air feels chill and com- 

 fortless ; we were glad to busy ourselves vigor- 

 ously in preparing our horses for the day's sport ; 

 and, though we felt like blind men following the 

 blind, we blundered on at a quick step after our 

 guide into the darkness that encircled us. After 



