STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 459 



The dark picture given above of the past condition of 

 the country is, of course, far from being universally appli- 

 cable. It is drawn from one district, towards the Black Sea 

 coast; but the whole mountam region has always been more 

 or less given over to lawlessness, and the dwellers in the plain 

 had probably good ground for attributing to their neigh- 

 bours of the mountains a belief in the following legend : 

 ' This wild race pretend, that after God created the world, 

 an edict was published, by which all people were sum- 

 moned to take possession of their several portions. All 

 mankind had an appointed share, except the inhabitants 

 of the Caucasus, who had been forgotten. Upon putting 

 in their claim, which the Deity acknowledged to be just, 

 they received permission to live at the expense of their 

 neighbours, and assuredly they reap ample profits from 

 the presumption of such license.' Like our own High- 

 landers of former days, the mountaineers of the Caucasus 

 look on the wealth of the lowland population as their 

 lawful perquisite, and their final subjugation will be a 

 necessary consequence of the progress of civilisation. 



Though the politician may, with reason, regret that the 

 Russian armies, no longer conscious of formidable foes in 

 their rear, can now, from the highlands of Armenia, look 

 down over the Valley of the Euphrates, the traveller in the 

 Caucasus, out of temper, as he will often be, with the cor- 

 ruption and stupidity of all but the highest class of ofii- 

 cials, must not forget that, but for their presence, he would 

 be unable to penetrate at all into the interior of the 

 country. 



Little or nothing has been said in the course of this 

 narrative about the wild animals to be found in the 

 Caucasus. "We met with chamois occasionally, but never 

 in any great number ; we twice saw dead bouquetin, and 

 we noticed the track of bears in the forest ; we also found 



