292 SUANETIA. 



CHAPTER X. 



SUANETIA. 



Free Suanetia, Past and Present — Herr Radde's Experiences — Phj'sieal 

 Features — Fortified Villages — Jibiani — Pious Savages — A Surprise — 

 Glaciers of the Ingur — Petty Theft — Threats of Eobbery — Alarms and Ex- 

 cursions — A Stormy Parting — The Horseman's Home — The Ruined Tower 

 — A Glorious Icefall — Adisch — Sylvan Scenery — The Mushalaliz — Suni— 

 Ups and Downs — Midday Halt — Latal — A Suanetian Farmhouse — Murder 

 no Crime — Tau Totonal — A Sensat'on Scene — The Caucasian Matter- 

 horn — Pari at last — Hospitable Cossacks. 



Suanetia is the general name bestowed by geographers on 

 the upper valley of the Ingur, and is derived from the in- 

 habitants, who from very ancient times have been called 

 the Suani, or Suanetians. This people is not, however, 

 entirely confined to the valley of the Ingur, as many of 

 the higher villages on the Zenes-Squali are occupied by 

 the same race. Their inhabitants are now distinguished 

 from their neighbours round the sources of the Ingur, as 

 the Dadian's Suanetians, from having been subject to a 

 native prince who bore the title of Dadian. His authority, 

 or that of other members of the same family, extends over 

 the western portion of the Ingur basin ; but the groups of 

 hamlets, which cluster thickly in the network of glens 

 containing the sources of the stream, are at the present 

 time independent, and are known as Free Suanetia. 



Since Russia has succeeded in converting her long nomi- 

 nal suzerainty over the Caucasus into real dominion, the 

 native princes have naturally been treated by her simply 

 as landed proprietors with certain manorial rights. Con- 



