A CAUCASIAN POSTIIOUSE. 181 



ordhiar}' type of Caucasian postliouses. They are sub- 

 stantial stone buildings, with verandahs, bow-windows, and 

 sometimes a billiard-room. Their internal fittings by no 

 , meaus correspond with their pretensions. Downstairs the 

 rooms are furnished only with square stools, and the usual 

 wooden bedstead. The saVe-a-manger is usually large, 

 with, in one corner, a cupboai'd containing a motley 

 collection of delicacies, mostly liquid — a sort of museum of 

 various shaped bottles labelled with the names of the 

 choicest brands. I have seen in a row ' Yeuve Clicquot,' 

 ' Chateau Lafitte,' ' Allsopp's Pale Ale,' ' Guinness' Stout,' 

 and ' Old Madere' {sic) ; there is very seldom more than 

 one bottle of each. The champagne is generally five 

 roubles, and the English beer one rouble fifteen copecks, a 

 bottle. A few boxes of sardines and a plate of stale cakes 

 form a set-ofP to this tempting array. The samovar and 

 tea are always forthcoming ; ' borsch,' or cabbage-soup, a 

 national dish in Russia, is usually to be had very quickly, 

 and sometimes a beefsteak will be cooked if ordered ; but, 

 as often as not, there is nothing more solid than eggs in 

 the house. Upstairs are a set of rooms provided with 

 mattrasses, which are charged for extra, such arrange- 

 ments being considered quite unnecessary luxuries. It 

 was our readiness to pay for these reserved apartments 

 which smoothed away the difficulties at first made to our 

 reception. 



June 27th. — We got off at 5 a.m., and enjoyed the 

 beauty of a fresh clear morning. After a straight stretch 

 of several versts, the road left the valley of the Aragui, 

 and turned up a narrow glen ; a long and gradual ascent 

 brought us to a green tableland, where a little tarn ap- 

 peared amongst the meadows. The posthouse of Duschet 

 stands by the side of a hollow, but the town lies on a 

 sloping hillside, at some distance to the right ; a good many 



