FIKST IMPRESSIONS. 5 



them from the results of their disorderly 

 sloth. Opposite this doorway was a heap 

 of big boulders, and under these Simon II. 

 spread my bourka, and politely requested 

 our party to wait whilst he went to see his 

 father and consult with him as to the pro- 

 priety of receiving us into their den. 



It was now about three ; there was still 

 no immediate prospect of breaking our fast, 

 and hope deferred was not the only thing that 

 made our hearts sick. A thin, spiteful rain 

 began to fall, so that as we drew our bourkas 

 round us, and crouched up against the boul- 

 ders, our first impressions of Svanetia were 

 anything but rose -coloured. 



After over an hour of this miserable wait- 

 ing, a loan-looking heifer strolled casually 

 out of the bear- slayer's doorway and took 

 stock of us from the top of the family mixen. 

 A few bundles of rags, accompanied by half 

 a dozen brats, came round the corner and 



