1 6 2 THR UGH R US SI A ON A MUS TA NG. 



try to calm her fears. He produced from his bosom 

 the miniature ikon that had been given him by his 

 mother at the beginning of the journey, and assured 

 the woman that he also was a Christian. For a 

 moment her suspicions were allayed, and for very 

 thankfulness she knelt and crossed herself many times. 

 Then it seemed to occur to her that Sascha's ikon was 

 probably worn for purposes of deception ; why else 

 had he not crossed himself when he first entered the 

 house ? 



All her suspicions were intensified. Tears rolled 

 down her cheeks. In vain Sascha tried to reassure her. 

 Her house would burn down and the souls of the fam- 

 ily would wither away as a consequence of our visit. 

 When we departed she was afraid to take money di- 

 rectly from my hand, but motioned us to lay it down. 



Though less superstitious than the women, the men 

 regarded us with a different order of suspicion. To 

 some we were mysterious strangers, spying out the 

 country ; to others we were secret police. In either 

 case we had sinister designs on the people. 



The most common form of suspicion was that we 

 were secretly engaged in numbering the people and 

 assessing the property for the purpose of increasing 

 the taxes. An attempt to photograph a house pro- 

 duced considerable excitement. To the peasants this 

 was proof positive that aggressive measures, in the 

 nature of heavier taxes, would be the outcome of our 

 visit. The peasants themselves were as chary of the 

 Kamaret as the most timid and suspicious of the East 

 African tribes which the writer met the summer 

 before. 



