A SUAXETIAX TRINCE. ;353 



luxury of pillows and sheets, and were thus able to sleep 

 out of our clothes for the first time since leaving Kazbek. 

 It is a curious fact, the reason of .which we failed to com- 

 prehend, that while in the Mahoiiimedan districts cushions 

 in abundance are generally found, they seem utterly un- 

 known in the nominally Christian parts of the country. 

 The reason is obscure, but the fact remains that, whether 

 at Christian villages or Russian post-stations, the traveller 

 must carry his own mattrass, or be content to lie on 

 boards. 



July 28th. — The day was given up to eating and doing 

 nothing, which we succeeded in enjoying thoroughly. Re- 

 lays of tea and cakes filled up the intervals between heavier 

 meals, and the spare time left at our disposal was spent in 

 sunning ourselves at the door of the cottage, or in conver- 

 sation with om* hosts, who introduced us to a visitor, a 

 Suanetian prince of the Dadisch-Kilian family, allied to 

 them by marriage. He was probably one of the rulers of 

 Betscho, the branch of the Lignr valley lying at the base 

 of Uschba, as Radde mentions their connection and fre- 

 quent intercourse with the tribes on the north side of 

 the chain. The Suanetian was haughtily aristocratic in 

 his personal appearance and manners, and his presence 

 seemed rather a restraint on everybody else. He was tall, 

 with regular features, but a very unintellectual expression 

 of countenance, and a supercilious dandified air, which 

 would have done credit to a man more accustomed to 

 civilised life. 



The native princes were far better-informed men than 

 any we had yet met in the mountains. Only two days' 

 journey from Patigorsk and Kislovodsk, Urusjiieh is fre- 

 quently visited by Russian travellers or officials, and even 

 the rambling photographer has carried his camera thus far. 

 The last visitors had been two Frenchmen in search of rare 



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