250 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



passed the night. In old days no race was noted 

 for more predatory instincts than my friends 

 the Svans; once or twice, so history says, 

 they have slipped over glacier and mountain 

 pass to lay waste the whole of the fair valley 

 of the Rion, spoil Oni, and once even de- 

 stroy Kutais, but this was long ago in the 

 fourteenth century. 



Since the time when George III. (of 

 Georgia) was king they have done little 

 beyond an occasional attack on Gebi, to pro- 

 vide themselves with wives, or a free fight 

 with rival hunters at the drinking-places of 

 the tur. 



The encroachments of that civilisation 

 introduced by the Russians have almost put a 

 stop even to these little amusements, so that 

 now there is nothing left for the restless 

 Svan but the blood-feud and the pursuit of 

 mountain game. It is in this latter that he 

 spends most of his time, and if he can kill one 



