304 SUANETIA. 



native prince, and as being now in receipt of a pension 

 for services rendered to the Russian Government. We 

 were only too glad to secure his assistance, and willingly 

 ratified the bargain entered into by Paul. 



During our absence, the tent, our mattrass, and other 

 articles, which were still damp after the rainstorms of the 

 Zenes-Squali, had been put out to dry in the sunshine. 

 The villagers took advantage of the numerous objects 

 which divided the attention of our men to commit sundry 

 petty thefts : some English string, a couple of spoons, 

 a stray volume of Tennyson, and a tent-pole, made up the 

 list of our losses ; the latter was the most important, 

 as, from its peculiar construction, it would have been im- 

 possible to replace it. 



During the afternoon, the behaviour of the crowd on 

 the grassplot round our barn became more and more 

 unpleasant; familiarity was evidently producing its pro- 

 verbial result, and we began to wonder what would be 

 the upshot, and whether the success of petty theft 

 would encourage attempts at open robbery. For some 

 time we were amused in watching the athletic sports 

 of the juvenile portion of the population, who were en- 

 joying themselves on a piece of level ground on the 

 opposite side of the sunken lane which led up to our barn. 

 The popular game seemed to be for one boy to seize 

 another's head-gear, and retain possession of it, by flight 

 or struggles, as long as possible. Girls as well as boys 

 took part in the amusement, which was of a very violent 

 and noisy description, and was at times enlivened by a 

 general scrimmage, which reminded me of a ' rouge ' in 

 an Eton football match. Unfortunately, the game Avas too 

 exhausting to be long continued, and when the players 

 joined the group, already sufficiently rude and troublesome, 

 which surrounded vis, we found it necessary to carry in all 



