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156 Would Bruno's presentiments be realized? The future will reveal that. In any case he had done his duty as a devoted servant in warning his master; and, since Van Mitten resolved to continue the journey—a journey as ridiculous as fatiguing—the valet had no choice but to follow him.

The road continued almost invariably along the shores of the Black Sea, following the contour of the land. If it sometimes branched away a little to avoid some obstacle of the shore, or to reach some village, it was never more than a few versts. The last spurs of the Caucasus, which run parallel to the coast, die away on the boundaries of this little-used route. On the horizon eastward can be perceived the rugged teeth-like, snow-tipped summits, which seem to bite into the sky. At one o'clock in the afternoon the travellers turned the little Bay of Zèmes, seven leagues from Rajewskaja, so as to reach, about eight leagues farther on, the village of Gelendschik. These townships are some distance from one another, you see.

Upon the littoral of the Black Sea we may reckon one little town at this average distance; but beyond these small groups of houses—frequently only a village or hamlet—the country is almost deserted, and is beginning to be even less frequented by the coasting vessels.

This band of terra firma between the mountains and the sea is well wooded; trees of various kinds are plentiful, and are united by the wild vines which twine about their limbs, as in a tropical forest. In every direction nightingales and warblers sing in the fields of azaleas, which nature has planted in this fertile country.

Towards midday the travellers fell in with a tribe of Kalmucks, nomads, who dwell in oulousses, comprising many khotonnes. The latter are regular "ambulant villages," composed of a certain number of kibitkas or tents which are pitched at random—sometimes on the steppes; sometimes in the verdant valley; sometimes by the side of a water-course—according to the fancy of the leaders. The Kalmucks are of Mongolian extraction, and were formerly very numerous in the Caucasus; but the exigencies of the Russian administration, not to say its "vexations," have compelled a retreat towards Asia.