94 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



the head of the family dies, it never resoltes 

 itself into fresh groups on the marriage of the 

 sons. Honesty is the chief virtue of the 

 Svans — honesty, that is, in small things. It 

 may well be that to carry off a flock of sheep 

 from Radcha, leaving the shepherds dead at 

 the foot of the pass, would seem a virtuous 

 act to any native of Mookmer, but petty 

 larceny is not among their vices. Careless as 

 Frank and I were, we never had any single 

 thing; stolen durino; the whole time we were 

 in Svanetia. As for morality amongst the 

 women, that is a thing little known in the 

 Caucasus, and less likely to be met with in 

 Svanetia than elsewhere. 



The Svans have no games, no mental 

 culture, to all intent and purpose no religion, 

 no houses better than dens ; they don't work 

 much when they can, and there are at least 

 nine months of the year when they cannot 

 work if they would. They have no strong 



