80 SAYAGE SVAXETIA. 



When yon are travelling in this country 

 on horseback, and are told that it will take 

 yon a ceitain number of days to reach a par- 

 ticular spot, vou must remember that these 

 ' days ' are counted from earliest dawn to an 

 hour or so after dusk, and are not ordinary 

 twelve hour days. 



'W'e soon found that our resting-place of 

 last night, Tkiboole, was situated at the foot 

 of a considerable chain of hills, up whose 

 steep sides we had now to climb. So steep 

 were they, and so weak did our ponies appear, 

 that Frank and I at once dismounted, and 

 beofan the dav with a lono^ stiff climb, to 

 which our only objection was that its labours 

 were not shared by our guide who, utterly 

 careless of his horse, sat where he was, smok- 

 ing placidly. It is to my mind one of the 

 worst traits in the Caucasian character, that 

 these people care nothing for either horse 

 or dog as friends, regarding them as mere 



