In the evening the Cossacks tried their agility and strength against the villagers, at leap-frog, putting the stone, &c. Among their sports was dyergatch^ ' the landrail,' an amusing game, that certainly had the effect of rousing the Swanny out of their chronic state of dulness, though they scarcely cared to join in it even after the plucky example of old Sidonia, who, I should state, had come with us from Moury, and was to remain with the Chief to the end of the tour. The game of the landrail is thus played. A stout peg, to which two long lines are attached, is driven firmly into the ground; the ends of the lines are fastened round the waists of two players, who are blindfolded, one being supplied with a short cane, the other with two small sticks that are notched and have to be rubbed gently against each other. As the players keep moving, the one with the cane listens for the sound of the sticks, and rushes in the direction whence he fancies it proceeds, striking out with right good will. The tripping and scuffling causes no end cf merriment until the entangled state of the lines necessitates a truce and
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by Google a clearance for a fresh continuation of the game. Songs and dances, in which Tenghyz invariably took a part, were sustained until 9 P.M., when the camp-fire was made up for the night 9 P.M. then 54°.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
FIFTY-SECOND AND FIFTY-THIRD DAY.
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It was pouring heavily when we left Lalhory at eight in the morning, but we had no sooner quitted the village than we found some shelter on dipping into a grand old pine-forest, that slopes some hundreds of feet from the Ingour to the Monastery of Kyyryki, or, as it is sometimes called, Laghvyrka, the mother church in the valley. The repeated sharp bends in the river necessitated frequent traversing over a succession of fragile bridges, until we entered the forest of Nentchash where we found the path obstructed, some of the largest trees having been felled and the trunks laid across it by the people of Ypary, whose disaffection is matter of note, as a hostile demonstration againet Count Levaschoff, and the military force he led into Independent Swannety in 1869, which consisted of 400 troops of the line with two mountain howitzers, and two solnias ' of Cossacks; an expedition that lasted two months, giving the Swanny needless offence, without any proportionate benefit being derived. For reasons best known to the ' A ivlnia is lOO meOi t, Google
Government of Russia, no account has ever been published of that expedition, during which the authorities neglected a favourable opportunity for throwing open the country, in not having proper roads constructed, work that might have been accomplished by a company of sappers with the assistance of the troops employed. Such as it was, the Count's invasion appears to have been little else than a military parade and camping out; the Swanny have not forgotten the demonstration, nor have they forgiven the gratuitous attack made upon them. 6,050 When we got to the village of Ypary at 10.30, we found the population assembled in expectation of the Chief, who at once directed the elections to be proceeded with, and then there succeeded such an uproar as is seldom heard, the merits of the several favourites being violently disputed, a clamour in which the females took an energetic part with the men. Although a native of Swannety Dadyshkylyany, Tenghyz has no small influence owr the people in this portion of the district, notwithstanding that titles of nobility are disregarded and do not exist, and he became most active in putting an end to altercations, in silencing the unnily throng, and bringing the elections to a speedier termination than would have been the case had the noisy electors been left to themselves. After much boisterous confusion, Tenghyz issued from the crowd leading two men firmly by the arms, whom he placed in front of the Chief amid the jeers of the people; he plunged into the midst of it a second and a third time, bringing away in the same manner four other men; the majority, it appeared, were in favour of the Prince's captives who Were unwilling to take office, he accordingly settled the point by dragging them forth, the mountaineers cheering and shouting as he did so; they Were at once sworn in and duly invested.
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