The women we had hitherto seen were generally at a distance, seated on walls and the roofs of cottages, employed spinning; if any of our party chanced to move towards them, they would scamper away to appear upon walls still farther off. At Moulachy, however, we found them less shy, for they suffered us to approach as they sat idly about the greensward throughout the day, watching the proceedit^ with a lazy interest, and we were thus afforded the opportunity of noticing their peculiarities and costume. The by Google opinion we had formed of their plain and coarse features was confirmed, the similarity of race existing among the women being in remarkable contrast to the variety of type observable everywhere among the men. The marked characteristics of the women are — prominent cheek-bones in a broad face which narrows to a pointed chin, the nose somewhat full at the nostrils, a large mouth, good dark eyes, and an abundance of black hair dressed into numerous long thin plaits which hang down on either side. They wear a dark blue cotton garment reaching from the neck to the ankles, tight-fitting to the waist, thus displaying the full extent of nature's gifts in their admirable busts; so great indeed is this development among even the younger of the fair sex, that when required to appear before the Chief as complainants or witnesses they would be quite ill at ease, and cross their arms, as it were instinctively, in front of them. This is an attraction directly opposed to the relaxed condition so greatly admired in other parts of the mountains, where it is the custom for the bridegroom to cut asunder on the night of his wedding, the waistband or sUys that have been worn by his bride from childhood, never again to be replaced.
Over the blue garment is another of a still darker shade, open the entire way in front, with laige loose sleeves that hang at the elbows i tight pantaloons dra^le at their heels, a white kerchief covers the head, the ends being tied behind, and over it a coloured scarf, twisted to form a turban; they also occasionally wear a loose jacket not unlike the Georgian katyba, except that the sleeves are tight. This costume, universal in the upper valley of the Ingour, is substituted in winter by suits made of sheepskins, of the fur of the bear and tour. At Moulachy some of the women affected mittens, by bandaging the hand in linen folds, and many
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wore glass bead nccHaces, with amdiets of triangular form in silver, amulets of like shape ir> leather being worn by the men, whose costume is the usual tchekmeit with cartridge tubes on the breast, and tight trousers, of home-spun cloth made by their wives, as are also the conical brimless hats, white or black, worn only in Swannety. Arms and gunpowder, both the delight of the mountaineer, are supplied from Ossety, but every commune in Swannety has its armourer, an art hereditary in one family, for it is taught by the father to his son. These armourers are quite competent to effect repairs t:) a rifle, pistol or kynjAl, and some rifles we saw of their manufacture, equalled in appearance anything turned out in Ossety; there is nothing but the old flint-lock in use.
The Tzaldash incident delayed our departure until 5.45 P.M., when we proceeded from Tchalash to Mestye over the Kah'rr, one of the many small spurs in the valley, which we found covered with the ash and honeysuckle; it was from the ndge of Kah'rr that we obtained our first sight of Mount Oushba, hitherto concealed from view by the heavy clouds that had been so long playing about the highlands and drenching us. A steep and unpleasant descent it is to Mestye, where we arrived at seven o'clock, the Chief crcat-ng 5,600 no small stir by directing that the elections were to take place forthwith. It was dark, and as Mestye is partly situated on the slope of a hill, a striking effect was produced by the birch-bark lights that flitted about in all directions, as the male population was being turned out to vote; then, as the people gathered towards where the Chief was waiting, the uproar got louder and louder, and continued with noisy demonstrations which were tolerated for at least an hour, the voice of Tenghyz being heard from time to time above that of the rest, thundering out, SoudA! ScudA I ' Silence! Silence! ' until his tall form was seen moving into the
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crowd and emerging again after a few moments saluted with loud cheeis and laughter, first with one couple of the men who had been chosen, and again with others., all shrinking from the responsibilities of office.