A KIND HOSTESS. 171 



The road from Betcho to Etseri, the royal 

 village of Svanetia, at U'hich the prince has 

 his regular home, is perhaps the worst and 

 most beautiful four hours' ride in this country 

 of beauty and discomfort combined. By 

 moonlight the scenery was lovely in the ex- 

 treme ; but three falls, horse and man together, 

 during the ride made me see more stars than 

 I thought necessary to complete the perfect 

 beauty of the heavens. 



At Etseri we (Platon and I) had a kind 

 hostess waiting to receive us, in the person of 

 the priest's wife, an aunt of my interpreter, and 

 a very loving one I should say from the warm 

 greeting she gave us. The priest was away, 

 but he must be a man far better off than his 

 brethren in this part of the Caucasus, for 

 nowhere else had we seen such comfort as 

 in the neat log hut, with its trim garden, 

 wherein we lodo:ed that ni"'ht. 



Etseri is far and away the richest and l)est 



