240 TIIH RION VALLEY. 



our food at last, accompanied by a rare luxury, a bottle of 

 wine. We had not seen such a thing since leaving Kazbek, 

 and what was now brought us inider the name of wine was 

 a muddy liquor which owed little to the skill of its maker, 

 but was, at any rate, unadulterated juice of the graj)e, a 

 recommendation quite sufficient to Tucker and myself. The 

 people of Glola were of the same type as those of Gur- 

 schavi — homely peasants, who wore the usual style of dress, 

 crowned by felt hats of various and sometimes intensely 

 comical shapes. We were regaled with new bread, one of 

 the few delicacies of the country, which we found almost 

 everywhere. The bread of the Caucasus is peculiar, and 

 would be considered detestable by many people, but I must 

 own to giving it a decided preference over the sour black 

 loaves of the German Alps. The peasants never think of 

 baking until they actually want food ; sufficient for the day, 

 or rather for the meal, is provided, and when more is 

 wanted it has to be made afresh. The general shape of 

 the loaves is round and flat, and a hungry man can eat two 

 or three of the ordinary size at a meal. Some, however, 

 are of a more substantial nature, and have a layer of 

 melted cheese inside them, and these, when hot, are by no 

 means despicable. Most of the varieties of cakes are made 

 of barley, aod are brown in colour, very close, and more or 

 less heavy ; they vary, of course, according to the quality of 

 the flour used, and the skill of the maker. Here we found 

 another kind, made of indian-corn, pleasant to the eye and 

 palate, but very difficult of digestion. 



July 9th. — The night destroyed an illusion which for a 

 full week we had cherished most fondly. Hitherto we 

 had been entirely exempt fi'om the pest of insects, and we 

 laid ourselves down to rest absolutely without suspicion of 

 the misery in store for us. Tucker, famed for his suffer- 

 ings in Swiss chalets, was the first to be attacked ; the noise 



