220 TJFL/S. 



Tiflis is before you, and if the best there is not 

 good enough for you, you can get no better else- 

 where. But, on the other hand, the rivalry of the 

 different shopkeepers becomes first amusing, and 

 then distracting. At one moment you appear to 

 be in danger of being torn to pieces by contending 

 candidates for your custom ; the next, there is 

 every prospect of a free fight among the rivals 

 themselves. But this gradually calms down ; and 

 then sticking to one shop, you ask for what you 

 want. An article of the kind required is produced, 

 the worst probably in stock, and held up to your 

 eyes tenderly and admiringly by its owner, while 

 he pours forth its praises in the most glowing 

 terms of the East. You don't like it, in spite of 

 its being fit for the Prophet to wear ; you don't 

 care about wearing it yourself, you want a better. 

 Well, heaven knows what will please the gentle- 

 man, perhaps and then as by inspiration the 

 merchant remembers some other specimen of the 

 article required, and producing it pours forth its 

 eulogy in terms ten times as glowing as those 

 which described the qualities of the first. This 

 goes on as long as you will stand it, and then with 

 a sigh the rascal produces something really worth 

 having. You decide that it will do for you, and 

 asking its price, are promptly told that to oblige; 

 you the vendor will take double its marketable 

 value for it. My friend taught me the next step 



