276 THE LESGHIAN MOUNTAINS. 



over their contents ; but alas ! none of that ' flash- 

 ing ' appearance of which Mr. Houch so emphatically 

 speaks resulted therefrom. On the contrary, the 

 surface of the plates maintained an exasperating 

 sameness in appearance. 



At last, however, when almost all the plates had 

 been laid by in disgust, something dark which 

 would not wash out, and so small that even Allai 

 could not quite manage to put his thumb exactly on 

 it at the first attempt, did appear. What applause 

 it met with ; what speculations as to what it might 

 represent. We distinctly remembered to have pho- 

 tographed certain majestic snow-peaks, to do which 

 we had almost broken our hearts with up-hill toil ; 

 we knew we had photographed a village from a bend 

 in a mountain torrent at the cost of wet feet ; but 

 what was this ? Could it be Allai' s hat ? Might 

 it be a back view of the stooping Ivan ? Could it 

 possibly be a fancy portrait of the photographer 

 himself as he appeared under his robe of mystery ? 



Whatever it was, we explained to the credulous 

 Lesghians that, after undergoing a magnifying pro- 

 cess at home, it would no doubt convey a correct 

 idea of the scenery of Daghestan to English minds. 

 With this explanation we were thankful to sec 

 they were content, and silently resolved to give 

 away our photographic apparatus at the first 

 opportunity. 



The next entry in the rough log I kept at this 



