206 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



river. A column of smoke first drew our 

 attention, and when we got closer we could 

 see a man and woman with some three or four 

 half-naked children bivouacking in a tree by 

 the edge of the stream. I don't know what 

 kind of tree it was, but the branches all 

 divided near the root, forming a sort of cup in 

 which these people had kindled a fire. The 

 branches they had drawn together again above 

 them, and overlaid them with an old bourka, 

 which formed a more or less waterproof roof 

 for their quaint cage. 



The man came out when he saw us, and 

 with the generosity of the poor, took one of 

 the ears of maize from his little hoard, and 

 roasting it while we chatted, waded waist deep 

 into the stream, unusually broad just here, and 

 threw it across to us. I was sorry I couldn't 

 make him some return, but there was no way 

 from us to him for many a verst. 



I think we only passed one little maize 



