TUMBLE-DOWN HOVELS. 113 



slumbers ; and when we woke and shook our- 

 selves clear of the dust of Mulach, w^e forgot 

 our troubles in the anticipation of reaching 

 Betcho before nio-htfall. 



The second day of our journey from 

 Ushkul to Betcho was much like our first. A 

 couple of ridges surmounted and a few villages 

 passed through, all so much alike that in 

 describing one you describe them all. ]Mestia, 

 Nenjar, and Latali were the names of them, 

 and the general character of all tliree was that 

 of a village of tumble- down hovels of grey- 

 stone, interspersed with tall white watch 

 towers, battered and ruined by internecine 

 wars and the more recent attacks of Russia, 

 built on the most level part of the slope of 

 some hill at whose foot the shallow stream of 

 some small glacier-born river rolls its grey 

 waters. 



All round the immediate vicinity of the 

 village the poor soil of the hillside is portioned 



VOL. II. I 



