. Savage Svânetia . reywaters. All round the immediate vicinity of thevillage the poor soil of the hillside is portioned VOL. II. I 114 SAVAGE BVANETIA. out into little square plots, yielding a scantysupply of rye or barley to the villagers, andall round roll range upon range of barren hills,while at the end of the glen towers the whitemass of some giant snow peak. In summer the scenery is so stern andwild that its beauty hardly impresses you somuch as its savage sense of desolation. Butwhat the lives of these villagers must be likewhen winter has shut them away from theworld, and a black wint
. Savage Svânetia . reywaters. All round the immediate vicinity of thevillage the poor soil of the hillside is portioned VOL. II. I 114 SAVAGE BVANETIA. out into little square plots, yielding a scantysupply of rye or barley to the villagers, andall round roll range upon range of barren hills,while at the end of the glen towers the whitemass of some giant snow peak. In summer the scenery is so stern andwild that its beauty hardly impresses you somuch as its savage sense of desolation. Butwhat the lives of these villagers must be likewhen winter has shut them away from theworld, and a black wintry sky frowns down onthe silent waste of snow-shrouded mountains,it is difficult indeed to conceive. Often insuch glens fuel is not near at hand, and foodis always scarce. Wine or spirits, to cheer the heart ofman, they have none ; books there are none ;and for at least eight months no newscan come to them from the world for the men if they are hunters, forthen they at least may while away a few of the. msm!.^ A SMALL CHURCH. 115 dreary days of winter, but for the rest itmust be a terrible time. At Xenjar we saw a rather interestingchurch, built of stone and plaster. It was sosmall that if it would hold a score of peoplestandino; it could do little more. On threesides of it were windows, lono- and narrow,set in what somewhat resembled the Xormanarch, familiar in England. All round theexterior of the building ran a kind of corniceof mural painting, fairly well preserved andoriginally well executed. On the side mostworn by weather was a half obliterated design,which may have been originally meant forthe Virgin, with on her left a picture of asaint of the masculine o-ender mounted on ared deer rampant. Another of the designsrepresents a fight between a knight on horse-back and the devil. The devil is distinctlycoming by the worst of it, for his head isbleeding from a sabre stroke just dealt by theI 2 116 SAVAGE SVANEITA. knight, and moreover one of the devils hornsh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectcaucasu, bookyear1883
