Moulachy is the most prosperous commune in Swannety, its agricultural produce in barley, maize, oats, com, and hemp being the largest Fruit is grown, such as apples, cherries, pears, raspberries, and strawberries, and broad beans, peas, and potatoes are among the vegetables, but little care is bestowed upon their cultivation. Some attention is given to the rearing of cattle, goats and sheep, beasts and hides being bartered for stuffs and other necessaries brought by the Jewsof Lyaylyash, for there is no coin in circulation. Cottons were Russian; hardware, except knives which arc from Warsaw, or British, is supplied from Vladykavkaz, and crockery was British, from a firm in Gla^ow.'
The priest and the ' elder ' of this commune were closeted for a
' Cochran, of Glasgow.
t, Google long time with the Chief and Tenghyz during the evening, and the result of their interview was the promise of a little excitement in the morning.
9 P.M. ther. 54°. The elections that took place in the forenoon were noisy as usual, every man striving to drown the voice of his neighbour, so that the services of Tenghyz were again brought into requisition, to lead the favoured ones to the front and restore order; but some voters being absent, the ' elder ' and the priest made their official report, which was to the effect that an old feud between the villages of Tzaldash and Moujab, had resulted in the violent death, the previous January, of a son of Kaeboulatt Shervashydze the mamasaklysy of Moujab, and as the people of Moujab muster stronger than they of Tzaldash, the allies of the deceased man's family had kept the assassin and his friends besieged In their tower since the commission of the crime, for which blood-money had never been paid. The Chief was inclined to the belief, from the evidence at hand, that the murder had not been premeditated, and that one man slew the other in self-defence; he accordingly despatched a messenger to Tzaldash, to tell the accused and his two brothers that they were to leave the tower, and come to him forthwith. A first and a second summons remaining disregarded, the Chief himself rode of) to Tzaldash, accompanied by his Interpreter, the priest, and a Cossack, and ordered the trio to descend, which they jwomised to do provided they were not constituted prisoners. After being repeatedly urged to give themselves up unconditionally for the easier investigation of the charge preferred against them, a ladder slung to a long rope was let over the parapet, and the three brothers descended to the ground, when he who was accused of the murder hurriedly approached the Chief, and insisting upon kissing by Google
THE CHIEF'S LIFE IN DANGER. 75
him on the naked breast, pronounced his submission and readiness to follow.
This farce being over, the brothers were ordered to the front, and as the party moved off necessarily at a walking pace, a loud voice at a loop-hole called upon it to halt, under a threat to fire. The explanation offered by the brothers was, that a man of Ypary idio had fled his village for murder, had sworn to defend with his life the murderer of Tzaldash, in return for the protection afforded him from his own enemies. The interpreter shouted to the scoundrel that no harm was intended to the brothers, and that they were not being carried off J^ainst their will; the Yparian, however, who kept his rifle levelled, still threatened to fire and kill the Chief or the priest, if his friends were not immediately allowed to reascend the tower. Hereupon the youth pleaded to having sworn to stand by the runaway of Ypary, proscribed like himself, to the last extremity, and to avoid further bloodshed be^ed that he might be permitted to stay, for the Yparian, he said, would most assuredly fire. The advantage being decidedly in favour of the bandit in his unassailable position, the Chief deemed it prudent to release the assassin from his bond, leaving the settlement of the matter to a future occasion, when he should be better prepared for enforcing his author!^.