398 THE TCIIEREK VALLEY. 



over the lower wooded liills. He related to us a legend, 

 current among- the Tcherkesses, of an extraordinary 

 treasure secreted on the top of one of these peaks, but 

 it did not seem different from the tales of the same 

 description common to most mountain countries. 



It was evident that we should not be able to make a start 

 early the next day, and we were forced to acquiesce in the 

 suo-o-estion, that an officer should call on us in the morning 

 with the horsemen, and that the conclusion of any definite 

 arrangement should be postponed for the present. ISTalt- 

 schik in itself is a neat little place, showing marks of its 

 origin as a military cantonment, and gradually sinking, 

 under the influence of more peaceful times, into a quiet 

 country town, with broad streets shaded by trees, bordered 

 by cozy-looking, green-roofed, one-storied cottages, each 

 surrounded by its patch of garden-ground. There are 

 several fairly- supplied shops, and in one Paul secured a 

 ham, an article we had looked for in vain at Patigorsk ; 

 while at another, we found, to our surprise, a bottle of very 

 fair eau-de-cologne — a great boon to Moore and myself, 

 who were out of sorts, and with neuralgic tendencies. 



August 12th. — In the morning an ofiicer called, accom- 

 panied by the two natives who, it was proposed, should 

 provide us with horses. They were bluff hearty-looking 

 fellows, one of whom emitted, from time to time, a most 

 ferocious grunt, which prepossessed us, perhaps somewhat 

 unfairly, against him. The debate was opened by an 

 explicit refusal, on our part, to have anything to do with 

 any previous understanding. The horsemen stuck to the 

 terms originally suggested, and thus things seemed to 

 have come to a deadlock. An adjournment was shortly 

 agreed upon, and my friends accompanied the officer to 

 the Commandant's house, where they spent two hours in 

 protracted negotiations. It is very doubtful whether their 



