144 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



he always smoked, and I believe lost me many 

 a good head by doing so. 



A boiirka (Caucasian blanket) is a won- 

 derful thing for warmth, and once wound 

 round you, so as to exclude the air, you can 

 keep warm in the coldest night. On this par- 

 ticular night, even my stony couch could not 

 keep me awake, and it was only at intervals, 

 when my gillie roused me, that I learnt what 

 was happening round us. 



Twice, as we listened, showers of small 

 stones came rattlmg down from the peaks 

 above. Then there would be a long pause. 

 Again a rattling of stones, and then a sharp 

 ' djik, djik,' half whistle, half bleat. Two or 

 three herds came to drink in the night, though 

 towards midnight a storm broke over the 

 mountains, giving us glimpses of the peaks 

 around standing out black and stern in a pale 

 flood of lio:htnin2:. 



For a time the storm seemed exactly over- 



