Untitled

174 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS
degrees beneath them in the Caucasian nobihty, and his vilhxgers
are certainly held in low estimation by their Russian masters. I
do not see my way to label them in a block.
'
Mr. Dent calls them so far I agree.
dirty and :
lazy,'
favourite exercise is talking,' he goes on :
acquiesce.
'
again
Simple, cxu'ious,
'
Their
all travellers must
Not thieves, but born liars, with a talent for petty
swindling": the verdict sounds too harsh, formed from a mental
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standpoint too remote. 'Truth,' even among ourselves,
w'~ -;
is a temi
that can cover much scandal; 'swindling'— that too is not readily
to be defined. The Tauli or Mountain Turk says what he thinks
you will like to hear, or what he at the moment intends. He tells
you horses are forthcoming, or that they will be ready to-morrow
at 6 A.M. If the facts do not correspond with his words, so much
the worse for the facts. He has done his duty as a host and
as a member of polite society. Again, he mentions a sum as an
appropriate payment
for his own and his horses' services : it is
appropriate to your exalted. station, and if he asked a smaller