A MOTLEY CROWD. J37 



There is, as usual in Eussian towns, a shady but untidily- 

 kept public garden on the bauk of the Terek, the waters 

 of which only cover a small j^ortion of its wide stony 

 channel. On the slopes of the nearer hills are some 

 villas, in the semi-English style much affected in Russia, 

 and a fortress, important until the last few years as a 

 defence to the town against any sudden ini'oad of the 

 mountaineers, terror of whom kej^t the place in an almost 

 perpetual state of siege. 



The crowd collected by the performance of a rope-dancer 

 at one end of the boulevard gave us a good opportunity of 

 observing the characteristic costumes of the country. 

 Russian ladies in Parisian toilettes, smoking cigarettes, 

 were mingled with tall regular-featured Ossetes, and 

 comparatively puny and sallow-faced officers, wearing the 

 unbecoming baker's cap so common in Russia. On the 

 outskirts of the crowd hung Persian labourers, in close- 

 fitting skullcaps and ragged dress, come thus far north 

 in search of a livelihood by working on the roads. 

 Sentinels, standing at odd corners, guarded nothing with 

 a careless air, and a military band, lent life to the 

 performance, which was not in itself of a very exciting 

 character. 



Our first visit was to the post-office, to obtain our letters. 

 The pleasure of being informed, by the head official, that 

 three letters for me had been received, was soon damped 

 by the discovery that an over-zealous clerk, having seen 

 our names in the Piitigorsk Visitors' List, had sent them 

 on there. Of course we telegraphed to Patigorsk, but 

 nothing more was ever heard or seen of the mis- sent 

 letters. To our dismay, the first news that met us, when 

 we enquired about a carriage for Tiflis, was that the 

 Dariel road was broken, and that all communication had 

 been interrupted for several days. We began to think we 



