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234 THE EXTLUKATIOX OF THE CAUCASUS porary with mine. Dr. Iladde, the Curator of the Tiflis Museum, was even in 18G6 no i-aw traveller, and this is the account he of the inhabitants of Jibiani after his first visit :— gave ' The impression left by my stay at Jibiani cannot exactly be called peaceful. Constantly surrounded by from sixty to eighty natives, amongst whom were many children and even women, it was only by the greatest patience and forbearance that we could protect ourselves from their obtrusivenoss. Presents, friendliness, and a scrupulous and often affected indifference to insolence succeed best with such a people ; but there comes a point when it is necessary to draw a line, and to take decided measures to put an end to their excessive rudeness. 'During ray stay two wounded men presented themselves, and I frequently heard gunshots from an old castle called Lenqueri, which stands on the left bank of the Zurischi (?). In this castle lived eight robbers, natives of the neighbouring hamlet of Murkmur, which, with Jibiani, forms part of the same communitj^ Ushkul. A quarrel about the pasture-grounds had involved the two hamlets in open war, and the bitterness of the quarrel was such that the whole population took part in it with powder and shot, two-edged daggers and swoi'ds. while the robbers issuing: from their castle carried off at every opportunity the herds of the opposing party, and spread murder and rapine through the district.' The Doctor added : ' Among this population men are frequently met with who have taken two or more hves. Murder is not only sanctioned, but in many cases commanded by their code of morality.' Certain Georgian writers have argued, on the strength of the name Edenis Mta, that the Gai^den of Eden was situated among the sources of the Rion. They might fairly have gone on to suggest that Cain took refuge in Suanetia, and founded that ' regime of reciprocal assassination ' is the earliest stage in human society. which, according to M. Kenan, Nineteen years later I returned to Ushkul. After descending from the Latpari Pass to the guest-house at Kal, we turned up the path that leads to the sources of the Ingur. Except one striking- glimpse of the Kalde glaciers and Janga, there is little to see in the trough beside the stream until the fifty towers of Ushkul
TRAVEL AND MOUXTAINEERING IX SUAXETIA 235 rise among the yellowing barley fields, and the shining crest of Shkara crowns the green hillsides of the middle distance. I must confess that it was not without a certain involuntary tremor that I walked between the well -remembered walls, straight into the den of thieves from which we had once been so thankful to escape. C)n my companion Francois Devouassoud's face I noticed a more than usually pensive air, as if his recollections were too much for him, and he took the occasion to remind me that our camp had been plundered at the neighbouring Adish a fortnight before. His when a man dressed relief and my pleasure were consequently great as a well-to-do Georgian stepped forward and introduced himself to us. He proved to be one Bussarion Nikoradse, a Suanetian orphan, who, I know not why, was educated at government expense for the priesthood, but has preferred the post of a schoolmaster at Kutais. Nikoradse was spending his summer holidays among his native people, and he cordially invited me to share his lodo-ino-s— a i"oom which he had provided with a floor, a table, and a bedstead, thermometers and a field-glass — luxuries of civilisation unique at Ushkul. Our host obviously exercised much influence over the villagers. The people were in every way strangely changed for the better. Twenty years before every man had seemed to have the terror of sudden death in his — eyes that strange, hunted look, as recognisable as the gambler's frown, that marks a land of vendetta. This wild expression was now far less universal. When Mr. Phillipps-Wolley pas.sed in 1882, the priest dared not eject the turbulent crowd from his room lest he should be shot for his pains. Now I was left in undisturbed quiet in our lodging, and was seldom mobbed in my frequent rambles. Provisions were supplied without difficulty, subseqiiently seciu-ed to go and the three horsemen whom we with us to Gebi served us with some- thing less than the usual Caucasian intractability. Even papermoney had a purchasing power, and payments no longer had to be made in piles of metal kopeks. After all, the change has been gradual compared to that effected in Hunza, where the greatest brigands of Central Asia served contentedly as Sir Martin Conway's porters a year after the British occupation of their fastnesses.
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234 THE EXTLUKATIOX OF THE CAUCASUS<br />
porary with mine. Dr. Iladde, the Curator of the Tiflis Museum,<br />
was even in 18G6 no i-aw traveller, and this is the account he<br />
of the inhabitants of Jibiani after his first visit :—<br />
gave<br />
'<br />
The impression left by my stay at Jibiani cannot exactly be called<br />
peaceful. Constantly surrounded by from sixty to eighty natives, amongst<br />
whom were many children and even women, it was only by the greatest<br />
patience and forbearance that we could protect ourselves from their<br />
obtrusivenoss. Presents, friendliness, and a scrupulous and often affected<br />
indifference to insolence succeed best with such a people ; but there comes<br />
a point when it is necessary to draw a line, and to take decided measures<br />
to put an end to their excessive rudeness.<br />
'During ray stay two wounded men presented themselves, and I<br />
frequently heard gunshots from an old castle called Lenqueri, which stands<br />
on the left bank of the Zurischi (?). In this castle lived eight robbers,<br />
natives of the neighbouring hamlet of Murkmur, which, with Jibiani, forms<br />
part of the same communitj^ Ushkul. A quarrel about the pasture-grounds<br />
had involved the two hamlets in open war, and the bitterness of the quarrel<br />
was such that the whole population took part in it with powder and shot,<br />
two-edged daggers and swoi'ds. while the robbers issuing: from their castle<br />
carried off at every opportunity the herds of the opposing party, and spread<br />
murder and rapine through the district.'<br />
The Doctor added :<br />
'<br />
Among this population men are frequently met with who have taken<br />
two or more hves. Murder is not only sanctioned, but in many cases<br />
commanded by their code of morality.'<br />
Certain Georgian writers have argued, on the strength of<br />
the name Edenis Mta, that the Gai^den of Eden was situated<br />
among the sources of the Rion. They might fairly have gone on<br />
to suggest that Cain took refuge in Suanetia, and founded that<br />
'<br />
regime of reciprocal<br />
assassination '<br />
is the earliest stage in human society.<br />
which, according to M. Kenan,<br />
Nineteen years later I returned to Ushkul. After descending<br />
from the Latpari Pass to the guest-house at Kal, we turned up the<br />
path that leads to the sources of the Ingur. Except one striking-<br />
glimpse of the Kalde glaciers and Janga,<br />
there is little to see in<br />
the trough beside the stream until the fifty towers of Ushkul
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