Untitled

160 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS
the Russian or German colonists supply their wants, or the hill-men
purchase such simple implements or luxuries as they can afford.
The local architecture might remind the traveller of nu-al Holland,
were it possible to imagine an untidy Holland.
As an administrative centre Naltshik has considerable im-
portance, for here lives the official, or Nachalnik, who is responsible
for the peace of all the Turkish tribes between the Urukh and
Elbruz, the men of Balkar and Bezingi, Chegem and Urusbieh.
Hither the village chiefs, or Starshinas, come down to render a
periodical account of their stewardship, to be instructed as to
new forest regulations, or to discuss some moot point of rights
THE MOUNT.-ilNS FKOM NALTSHIK
of pasturage between their communities. Russian administration
of Asiatic mountaineers, as far as a traveller sees it, is in many
respects the opposite of our own m India. Contrast, for instance.
Captain Younghusband's account of how we bewildered the folk
of Gilgit at first by our activity, our demands for labour for
public works, our insistance on public order. The Russian civil
servant in the Caucasus, as a rule, does little he can help, unless
it conduces to his own immediate amusement or advantage. The
idea of developing his district, of adding to its natural resources,
seldom seems to occur to him. The national talent for doinsf
without roads naturally disinclines him to any eff'orts in their
construction. I am afraid the national tendency to jobbery comes
in also. No other explanation of the dozens of broken and useless