136 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



down to drink ; but it was too dark even for 

 Simon to climb now, and far too dark to shoot, 

 so we let tliem drink in peace, and went back 

 to our supper of bread and water with an 

 appetite that even made such poor fare 

 palatable. 



Thanks to my restless friend, the impos- 

 sibility of arranging myself on the uneven 

 boulders that formed my bed, and Simon's 

 thousands of insect retainers, I slept but little 

 that night, and was not very sorry when I 

 was turned out into the starlight to climb up 

 to our ambuscade once more. This time no 

 tur came, they had all drunk in the dark 

 hours of the night, and had now taken them- 

 selves back to their haunts in the dizzy peaks 

 above, so we had our vio;il for nothins;. 



One of the peculiarities of Keerteesho was 

 the want of bird-life. In a bush near us I 

 watched for awhile a pair of (I think) moun- 

 tain accentors, and once I saw a pair of rock 



