4 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



At the far end of Ushkul, having 

 climbed through heaps of boulders and waded 

 little streams to get from house to house, we 

 found Simon's paternal mansion. From the 

 midst of two or three irregular heaps of un- 

 mortised stones, varying in height from four 

 to seven feet, rose one of the characteristic 

 towers of Svanetia. On the face of one of the 

 low huts were fastened about fifty of the oiF 

 fore-paws of bears in varying stages of decom- 

 position, some bleached and white with long 

 exposure, some green with damp, others (one 

 or two) looking as if they had been added 

 during the present season. A low doorway 

 (made by the removal of a dozen stones or 

 so), destitute of any door, opened on a heap 

 of refuse, the collection of years. Mercifully 

 for these filthy householders, the snow that 

 buries their villages for nine months in the 

 year carries away most of the refuse which 

 they neglect to remove, purifying and saving 



