88 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



plentiful harvest is waiting to be gathered in. 

 Herr Radde, the Curator of the Tiflis Mu- 

 seum, has a very good collection of butter- 

 flies ; but even I, in my two or three visits 

 to the Caucasus, though but a casual student 

 of entomology, feel convinced that I have 

 seen several varieties in my travels of which 

 there are no specimens at Tiflis. 



The daylight was fast departing, though 

 the heat was far from going with it, when 

 my poor little screw stumbled along the last 

 half verst to Oni. Somehow or other my 

 friend and the Jew had fallen behind, but 

 before my mental vision was the hope of a 

 steaming samovar and a refreshing wash ; 

 so, instead of waiting for them, I pushed on 

 alone into the little medley of roughly built 

 wooden houses, called Oni, the capital of the 

 government of Radcha, perhaps the richest 

 in natural productions of any government in 

 the Caucasus. 



