SVANETIAN LAWLESSNESS. 77 



mer ; and if he attempted to turn out the 

 invaders vi et armis, as he was very well quali- 

 fied to do, he would probably be shot for his 

 pains. 



I never m my life saw a place in which 

 there was such an utter absence of all autho- 

 rity and discipline as in these Svanetian vil- 

 lages. The priest seemed to have no power 

 at all over the people ; when I talked to some 

 of them, through our interpreter, of the 

 Russian authorities, they laughed them to 

 scorn ; once only, in Simon's case, I saw 

 some deference paid to a father" s authority, 

 but that, I fancy, was only a blind to empty 

 our purses from two sides at the same time, 

 by paying father and son for the same ser- 

 vices ; and to counterbalance this I saw a day 

 after, a boy about ten turn on his mother 

 with curses, and a hand on his kmjal, and so 

 drive her away, triumphing m his disobedience. 

 As to their reputed loyalty and obedience to 



