WIXE-BIBBIXG. 67 



For a moment F. and I gazed sadly at one 

 another ont of dreamy, unbelieving eyes, and 

 then some one said ' put not your trust in 

 princes ; ' the other expressing himself to the 

 same effect in more concise and energetic 

 terms, whereafter we retired again to roost, 

 determined that we had seen as much as we^ 

 cared for of Caucasian toolambatches and 

 princely wolf-hunts. 



It is wonderful how the practice of wine - 

 bibbing is interwoven with the whole life of 

 the Caucasus, more perhaps even with its 

 past life than with the life of to-day. Go into 

 any Asiatic shop to purchase ornaments of a 

 bygone time — objects of interest quaintly 

 devised and wrought about with fine silver 

 work — you will find nine out of ten of the 

 things exposed for sale connected with wine 

 drinking in one way or another. All that are 

 not, are weapons or horse trappings ; nothing 

 but war, wine, and horsemanship seem to 



F 2 



