KETURX TO TIFLIS. 175 



liood, no wine was to be had. Tiie puzzle was explained 

 when we found that the people here were Mahommedans, 

 and those of the next hamlet Christians. We rode on, and 

 in half an hour found ourselves again on our old track, at 

 the third station from Tiflis on the Erivan post-road. It 

 was ten versts on to Kodj, where we were obliged to sleep, 

 for our horses, 



'Hollow pamper 'd jades of Asia, 

 Which could not go but thirty miles a day,' 



were completely played out by their previous performances, 

 and plodded on at a pace which was painful to everyone 

 concerned. 



There was scarcely anything eatable to be found at the 

 station — indeed, the postmaster's only object seemed to be 

 to get rid of us. We consoled ourselves with the thoughts 

 of Tiflis, and hotel luxuries on the morrow. Our sleep 

 was soon broken by the howling of some miserable dogs. 

 The concert was so prolonged that my friend finally lost 

 patience, and broke it up by firing a revolver into the 

 middle of the performers, unluckily without fatal eifect. 



June l^tli. — From this point we intended to strike 

 straight for Tiflis across the hills — a route which had been 

 described to us as both shorter and more picturesque than 

 the tedious approach by the valley of the Kur. During 

 the first part of our ride we were still following the post- 

 road ; the mud was something indescribable, and the 

 ground ordinarily driven over so heavy that the carts had 

 been taking lines of their own through the fields. The 

 postmaster at Kody told us, with apparent satisfaction, 

 that if we had wanted ' telegas ' he should have sriven us 

 five horses to each, as a less number could not pull even 

 that light weight through the slough of the highroad to 

 Persia and the Caspian. Presently turning oif at 

 right-angles, we struck up the hillside on our left, by a 

 steep horse-path mounting beside a gully, in which a 



