186 
vant. 
BAKTCHESERAI, 
painter's pencil. As if their veils were insuf- 
ficient to protect them from observation, they 
no sooner behold a man, thap they hang their 
heads, and endeavour to escape notice by flight. 
An English servant, brought by Admiral Mord- 
iM Ser- v inof into the Crimea, observiTtg.-^is' practice 
among the Tahtar females, deemed itfp be an' act 
of rudeness on his part to give them the trouble 
of hiding their faces and of running away upon 
his account; therefore, whenever he encoun- 
tered them, he covered his face and took to his 
heels, in order to hide himself in the first place 
he could find. This passed unnoticed for some 
time : at length, the TalUar women, struck by 
the singularity of seeing a man always avoiding 
them and endeavouring to conceal himself from 
their observation, let fall a portion of their veils 
when they next met him; this only caused him to 
run faster than before. Such conduct excited 
their curiosity more than ever, and at last they 
fairly hunted him : after following him in parties 
to his hiding-place with their veils off, they 
resolved to see a man who for the first time 
concealed his face at the approach of a woman ; 
and, having caught him, they actually demanded 
an explanation of his unaccountable behaviour. 
Advancing along the defile, and always 
ascending, we passed above the remains of 
