FIEE-FLIES. 107 



sown the seed, must guard the produce 

 nightly, or lose all guerdon of his labour. 



After passing this hill the way wound 

 down into the bed of the Rion, no longer 

 now the broad peaceful stream, that seems to 

 have grown sluggish and stupid ere it pours 

 its full flood into the Black Sea, nor even the 

 angry, energetic torrent that overthrows all 

 obstacles, and boils onward beneath the grey 

 rocks of Tsess, but a company of half a dozen 

 small streams wanderino; throuo-h a ruinous 

 waste of stony river-bed, over which they 

 unite in whiter into a swollen cataract. Here, 

 for the first time, our attention was drawn to 

 large sparks of green light that flew glimmer- 

 ing here and there amongst the birch trees, 

 and it was some time before we realised that 

 they were the first and only fire-flies we had 

 yet seen in the Caucasus. 



The last step of the night's march was 

 over a log bridge which spanned the broadest 



