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118 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS In old times another track of niucli importance led through Gebi. One of the easiest approaches, and the direct road from Georgia, to the wilds of Suanetia, lay across the grassy ridges that divide the sources of the Rion, the Skenis Skali, and the Ingur. The old tracks have now been overgrown by forest, and the towers that guarded them, or perhaps served for fire-signals, are in ruins. But if all roads no longer lead to Gebi, there is still plenty of life and traffic in the old place, and the inhabitants have not lost their traditional position as the pedlars of the Caucasus. If I wanted a story to be spread —with variations— throughout the Caucasus, I should tell it to the Club that meets, on most days of the week and at most hours of the day, on the village green. The part played in similar institutions near Pall Mall by news- the constant and papers and tape-messages is taken at Gebi by various new arrivals. Now a tall, blue-eyed, tawny-bearded Mingre- lian noble rides in with his servants from the Racha, his long hashlik (a Phrygian hood) hanging loose over his shoulders, and his sword, dagger and pistols clattering on his belt. Now a party of Karatshai Tartars, or Mountain Turks, in black sheepskin bonnets and cloaks — the bourlas of the Caucasus— arrive over the passes of the main chain, brmging their herds and horses from the pastures of Balkar or Chegem, or the more distant downs under Elbruz. Here a ragged company of Mingrelian peasants, armed with scythes for the haycutting, are bargaining for the provisions that will sustain them on their tramp to the meadows of the northern side. For in the Caucasus, as in the Alps, it is the southern peasant who meets any demand for extra labour. At a little distance the maidens of the place, adorned with necklaces of sea-shells, pieces of amber and many-patterned beads, clad in bright red robes and crowned with turbans, made up of a parti-coloured cotton handkerchief fastened on the top of a long white cloth that falls down the back, gossip round the fountain, or, i-anged in a circle, pass the time in songs and dances. Smaller children, more or less naked, play with sticks and rags, or carry home on wooden platters portions of the ox that has just been slaughtered in the churchyard, pursued by large, wolf-like dogs, dis-
THE MAMTSON PASS AND GEBI 119 posed to claim prematurely their share in the harvest-feast. ^laiiy of them stop to cheer— or jeer —an individual confined in an enclosure close at hand. The villagers will explain that he has been ' drunk and disorderly,' and in consequence had to be punished. It is our old English plan, with a Pound substituted for the Stocks. Between my two visits in 1868 and 1887 Gebi had made con- siderable progress, but the manner of receiving strangers remained the same. The traveller dismounts under the balcony of the wooden coui't-house. A peasant, distinguished from his fellows by wearing round his neck a chain of office, comes forward from the crowd. He introduces himself as the Starshina. or mavor. These fnnc- tionaries are elected by popular suffrage, with thf approval of the Government, and are responsible to the Nachalnik, or Priestav, the Russian district -officer, for public order. Keys are brought, doors unlocked, and the traveller "s luggage stacked in a corner of a bare boarded room, furnished only with a fireplace, or rather hearth. Opening out of it is a smaller room. ( )n my last visit, rEASAJiTS AT GEBI one of the oldest and dirtiest inhabitants established himself on a still dirtier sheepskin in one of its corners, and announced his intention of remaining as guardian of the village archives, which he asserted were stored in an old box. In a Suanetian villatre
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THE MAMTSON PASS AND GEBI 119<br />
posed to claim prematurely their share in the harvest-feast. ^laiiy<br />
of them stop to cheer— or jeer —an individual confined in an enclosure<br />
close at hand. The villagers will explain that he has been '<br />
drunk<br />
and disorderly,' and in consequence had to be punished. It is our<br />
old English plan, with a Pound substituted for the Stocks.<br />
Between my<br />
two visits in 1868 and 1887 Gebi had made con-<br />
siderable progress, but the manner of receiving strangers remained<br />
the same. The traveller dismounts under the balcony of the wooden<br />
coui't-house. A peasant,<br />
distinguished from his<br />
fellows by wearing round<br />
his neck a chain of office,<br />
comes forward from the<br />
crowd. He introduces<br />
himself as the Starshina.<br />
or mavor. These fnnc-<br />
tionaries are elected by<br />
popular suffrage, with thf<br />
approval of the Government,<br />
and are responsible<br />
to the Nachalnik, or<br />
Priestav, the Russian<br />
district -officer, for public<br />
order. Keys are brought,<br />
doors unlocked, and the<br />
traveller "s luggage stacked<br />
in a corner of a bare<br />
boarded room, furnished<br />
only with a fireplace, or<br />
rather hearth. Opening<br />
out of it is a smaller<br />
room. ( )n my last visit,<br />
rEASAJiTS AT GEBI<br />
one of the oldest and dirtiest inhabitants established himself on a<br />
still dirtier sheepskin in one of its corners, and announced his<br />
intention of remaining as guardian of the village archives, which<br />
he asserted were stored in an old box. In a Suanetian villatre
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