HOSPITABLE COSSACKS. 335 



Nothing could exceed the kindness and readiness to meet 

 our wants shown by the Cossacks, and we rejoiced in our 

 deliverance for a time from the constant struggle with the 

 barbarous natives. When our Davkar horseman came to 

 be paid, he had the impudence to ask for a present, a 

 demand which we promptly crushed by threatening to 

 inform the Cossacks that he had dra^vn a pistol on us. 

 No more was heard of one of the greatest scoundrels we 

 ever had to deal with, and he left the village soon after- 

 wards. We slept as usual on our mattrass, but with a 

 pleasant sense of security which had been wanting since 

 our arrival at Jibiani. 



July 2'Srd. — The day was spent in idleness, while col- 

 lecting information and preparing provisions for our 

 further journey. We had now reached a point due south 

 of Elbruz ; it was therefore necessary to turn north, and 

 cross the main chain, in order to reach the foot of the 

 great mountain. We had been unable, either at Tiflis or 

 Kutais, to obtain any information as to the passes leading 

 from Suanetia to the northern valleys, and were naturally 

 anxious to learn the character of the difficulties we might 

 expect in completing the only link now wanting in our 

 mountain route from Kazbek to Elbruz. The Cossacks 

 told us that there were two passes used by the people, and 

 practicable for cattle, though too rough for horses. The 

 one they recommended us to take leads from the head of 

 a glen called Nakra, which joins the Ingur valley below 

 Pari, and we were told that by this pass Uruspieh, the 

 chief village of the Upper Baksan, could be reached in 

 three days. The usual need of porters arose, but the 

 chief Cossack undertook to find some for us, and shortly 

 introduced two pleasant-looking men, with whom we made 

 an agreement that the}', with five friends, should carry 

 our baggage to Uruspieh for six roubles (seventeen shil- 



