S74 FKOM PARI TO PATIGOESK. 



paper. In mis country every man is his own banker, and 

 either carries his balance on his person, melted into the 

 form of gold ornaments for his belt or dagger-sheath, or 

 else hangs it in a row of gold coins on his wife's forehead. 

 The day was superb, but we were too lazy to go up a hill, 

 even for the sake of seeing Elbruz. 



August 3rd. — Our start was to have been early, but, as 

 usual, delay arose from various causes. We were anxious 

 to acknowledge the hospitality shown to us, but the means 

 at our disposal were limited ; at last we determined to 

 quiet our consciences, when our hosts came to see us off, 

 by presenting a compressible drinking-cup to Ismail, the 

 eldest brother. We were on the point of departure, when 

 the princess, his sister, sent down a servant with a special 

 request (translated to us apologetically by Paul), that we 

 would leave behind for her use an article of toilet, one of 

 the very few we possessed, which she had seen and 

 admired. The princess's wish was of course gratified, and 

 the object on which she had set her affections — a large 

 bath-sponge — was yielded up to her. 



Two of the princes presented us with their cartes-de- 

 visite, taken at Piitigorsk, and accepted ours in return; 

 then, after exchanging hearty farewells, we left TJruspieh 

 behind us, and took the road leading down the valley. 

 Our course lay along the banks of the Baksan for the whole 

 day, during which (between 8.30 a.m. and 9.30 p.m.) we 

 accomplished a distance of fifty miles — a good ride, on 

 native saddles, for men who had not been on horseback 

 for weeks ; but the excellence of the road aided us much 

 in getting through the day's work. The valley of the 

 Baksan, as yet the most visited in the Caucasus, is also 

 the dullest, and its scenery cannot, by any stretch of cour- 

 tesy, be called either grand or beautiful. For some dis- 

 tance below Uruspieh, the valley preserves the same 



