106 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



For some hours our road lay along the 

 sides of hills almost worthy the name of 

 mountains, which overlooked the course of the 

 Ingour, after which we got down lower into a 

 region of pine belts, where for the present no 

 snow had made the landscape miserable. 

 Every now and again we came upon a log 

 hut, better built than any houses we had yet 

 seen, and like in shape to the chalets of 

 Switzerland. These were the scattered houses 

 of a riverside hamlet called Kala. 



If ever I travel throuo;h S vanetia ao^ain , I 

 am resolved that though a horse may carry 

 my packs, no legs but my own shall be 

 trusted to carry my person. I don't think 

 I am a nervous horseman, but the inclines, 

 bestrewn with rocks and slippery with melt- 

 ing snow, down which we were expected to 

 ride on weak-kneed beasts, tried me sorely. 



Once, in a river bed amongst boulders as 

 high as my nag's shoulder, I got a really bad 



