96 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



grave. Forming a procession of from twenty 

 to thirty, his companions follow their dead 

 fellow, carrying their alpenstocks over their 

 left shoulders, and keeping up a chorus of 

 'wai ! wai ! ' as they march. I never happened 

 to see a graveyard in Svanetia that I remem- 

 ber ; but often and often came on a cairn on 

 the hillside or in the forest where a bullet 

 or a false step hod put an end to some moun- 

 taineer's life. A short prayer and a tiny pine 

 tree torn up in passing was left by each of 

 my native followers at these cairns whenever 

 we passed them. 



Unfortunately before I had elicited half 

 the information which I wanted, my inter- 

 preter and the priest of Ushkul had got into 

 a deep argument on the subject of the future 

 of the Caucasus and Russia itself. Amongst 

 other things I learnt that my interpreter was 

 one of a set of young men, natives of the 

 Caucasus, who, having themselves tasted of 



