FAMILY JARS. 91 



violence — hand to hand fights are not their 

 strong points ; but a quiet shot at an nnsns- 

 pecting enemy has great attractions for them. 

 Still the rifle is not the only weapon nsed in 

 these family jars, as we saw when a little later 

 we met our hunter Georgi's brother, a fine- 

 lookino; mountaineer, whose rio-ht hand had 

 been cut off at the wrist by a blow from 

 a kinjal in a free fight at Ushkul about 

 a month before onr arrival. Thouo-h there 

 are no doctors in Ushkul, the loss of his hand 

 had had no evil effect on the man's o-eneral 

 health — the stump seemed in good condition ; 

 and as he had received a compensation in 

 cattle and money from the aggressor, as well 

 as the woman the theft of whom had been the 

 casus belli, Georgi's brother seemed happy and 

 contented. 



In every other province in the Caucasus 

 Russia has appointed foresters, men whose 

 duty it is, amougst other things, to levy a kind 



