MEALS IN BETCHO. 133 



sent to look for food. At eleven none had 

 been procured. None was to be had in the 

 village, and the bread for the prince's house- 

 hold had not yet been made. The judge sent 

 us one damper, his last before dinner-time, 

 and shortly after passed our hut with a friend 

 or two, stretchino; his lee's before ffoino- to 

 work for the day 



Breakfast is a meal that no one eats in 

 Betcho, for if he is a great man a cup of tea, 

 if a poor man a nip of vodka is luxury 

 enough for a Svan. At two he feeds for the 

 first, and except in some cases where cards 

 necessitate late hours, and a supper at mid- 

 night, for the last time in the day. Shops of 

 course there are none, either at Betcho or any 

 other village in Svfmetia, and everyone is so 

 entirely self-dependent that no one makes any 

 more bread than will just suffice for the im- 

 mediate needs of his own famity. So, though 

 we got at about eleven thirty eggs and a couple 



