PUBLIC OPINION'. -207 



show that such aids were much more useful on a snow- 

 mountain than any number of Cossacks. The Grand Dukes 

 had passed during our absence, and had carried away 

 the officials with them ; we had promised to let them 

 know how we fared, and accordingly wrote a short account 

 of the ' happy despatch ' of Kazbek, which we sent to the 

 Commandant of Duschet, leaving it to his discretion to 

 publish it in the Kafl-az, the official journal of Tiflis. 



In that publication it finally appeared, and contributed 

 in no slight degree to the reputation of modern Mun- 

 chausens, which before leaving the country we had suc- 

 ceeded in establishino-. 



