101 



CHAPTER XL 



A SVANETIAN COURT. 



The first glance at the outside world when I 

 woke from my lah' on the floor of the priest's 

 house at UshkuL dissipated half my rosy 

 hopes of the night before. AVhen they were 

 discussing Ushkul, the natives had claimed for 

 their village that it lay higher above the sea- 

 level than any village in Svanetia, if not in 

 the entire Caucasus, hence the winter came 

 upon them sooner than on their neighbours. 

 Now, as I looked from the balcony across the 

 patches where the uncut crops still stood, the 

 snow fell thick and fast ; and though it was 

 only the 18th of September, all the country 



