432 RETURN TO TIFLIS. 



to the Christian creed — a change, I believe, not uncon- 

 nected with a remission of taxes. The low houses did not 

 come in sight for some time, and it was quite dark when 

 we rode in through the lanes of mud which serve as 

 streets. 



Our Cossack was himself a native of this village, and 

 dii-ected us to a detached building, where we sat in an 

 open verandah, in damp and dismal suspense, while he 

 searched for the key. When this was found we gained 

 admission to a village-shop, behind which were two rooms 

 barely, though for the country pretentiously, furnished. 

 Having been on the road all day, we were now wet, tired, 

 and hungry, and tried to get a fire, a mattrass of some 

 sort to lie on, and something to eat. The two first were 

 not forthcoming at all, and the last did not appear for 

 nearly three hours, so that I had gone fast asleep on the 

 boards long before food arrived, and did not care to rouse 

 myself to partake of it. The wetness of the night was 

 some excuse for the delay in su^Dplying our wants, and the 

 absence of anything to lie on was probably explained by 

 the change in the faith of the villagers; carpets and 

 cushions being apparently creature-comforts so associated 

 with Mussulman faith and rule, and opposed to all Eussian 

 ideas, that the first act of a civilised and converted popula- 

 tion is to get rid of all such property, or, at any rate, to 

 abstain from producing it for the benefit of strangers. 



Atigust 21st. — In the morning, the rain was still falling 

 as heavily as ever, and our horsemen showed a strong dis- 

 inclination to face the weather, and the perils by water, 

 which they believed must be encountered before reaching 

 Ardonsk. We, knowing that Vladikafk:az was distant 

 only a short day's journey, were anxious to gain it, and 

 felt no inducement to loiter any longer than was necessary 

 amongst our sluggish entertainers the ' New Christians.' 



