104 SAVAGE SYANETIA. 



and after what I had heard of stonmg and 

 fines the night before, a glance at the scowling 

 faces crowding about us made me additionally 

 anxious to get away. The priest did all he 

 could. No man ever worked harder for 

 strangers than he did for us, and when the 

 horses had been obtained, and he had with his 

 own hands tied on the last of our bundles, we 

 drank m our stirrup cup the health of one of 

 the best friends we met in Svanetia. 



In cases like this, where we had been 

 staying in the house of a priest or other 

 educated person, we found that though our 

 host would be offended at the offer of any 

 remuneration, a present made to his wife 

 would never be refused, even if couched in the 

 simple form of rouble notes. Throughout the 

 Caucasus, the wife never seemed to me on the 

 same social level as her husband, but looked 

 on herself and was by others regarded rather 

 as we should regard a housekeeper. 



