18 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



linished and Frank in dreamland, whitlier I 

 speedily followed, when the little supper 

 party was still in full swing. 



Poor Platon, our interpreter, never re- 

 covered from that supper ; and having suffered 

 ao;onies of indio^estion durino- the rest of our 

 travels, almost his last words to me were on 

 parting at Sukhoum, ' We did have hard 

 times, sir, but except for that pig of Ushkul 

 I wouldn't mind going through it all again ! ' 

 A bed of Svanetian hay, on the mud floor of 

 a Svanetian bedroom, after a supper of Svane- 

 tian pork, is not productive of prolonged 

 slumbers, so that even if the family chanti- 

 cleer had not greeted us with a shrill good 

 morrow from his perch at the foot of the four- 

 poster, we should probably still have been 

 early risers. 



The morning had hardly broken when 

 with soap leaves in our hands we wandered 

 out hot and feverish in search of a tub : but 



