CHARACTER OF MOUNTAINEERS. 221 



her loneliest moods, had anj' sulotle significa- 

 tion for them, my interpreter never had tact 

 enouo'h to draw them out, and io-norance 

 of their language prevented me using my 

 opportunities. 



Neither did I ever meet in the Caucasus 

 with that ' habitual melancholy of the moun- 

 taineer ' of which I have read once or twice ; 

 faces full of sad resignation to their lives of 

 hardship, drawn and earnest with frequent 

 looking on death. Au coJitraire, my moun- 

 taineers as a rule were hard, enero-etic fellows, 

 with faces tanned bv wind and rain, brio-ht 

 and ruddy with frequent baths of pure moun- 

 tain air, but by the camp fire garrulous fellows, 

 with the spmts and appetites of men in hard 

 training, and a power of smoking bad tobacco 

 whilst climbing the longest and stiff'est ascents, 

 which must be witnessed to be believed 

 However, the mists were gathering, so casting 

 a last glance over the ridge towards Kabardah 



