58 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



Thus our intention of starting for Svanetia 

 was for the first time postponed. 



At three punctually on the next day, 

 Frank and I presented ourselves in the last 

 clean collars our journey had left us, little 

 knowing what was in store for us. It seemed, 

 from what the Princess subsequently told us, 

 that there had been a mutiny in the kitchen, 

 and all the servants were at the moment ' on 

 strike.' However, after a considerable amount 

 of diplomacy had been employed by the 

 Princess and her friends (for like a feudal 

 chieftain she seemed to live surrounded by a 

 crowd of relations and retainers), the cook 

 was prevailed on to send in the repast. 



The dinner was, I believe, Georgian in 

 style, but was sufficiently like a Russian 

 dinner to need no description here. The 

 drinking, not the eating, is the salient feature 

 in a Caucasian feast. A toast-giver (toolam- 

 batch) having been appointed, we took our 



