of his
sheep, and even express a cordial hope that his house is in a good state
of repair and his horses and cattle properly protected from any possible
inclemency of weather. Furthermore, you must always adapt your greeting to
time, place and circumstances, and be prepared to improvise a new,
graceful and appropriate salutation to meet any extraordinary exigence. In
the morning a mountaineer greets another with "May your morning be
bright!" to which the prompt rejoinder is, "And may a sunny day never pass
you by!" A guest he welcomes with "May your coming bring joy!" and the
guest replies, "May a blessing rest on your house!" To one about to
travel the appropriate greeting is, "May God make straight your road!" to
one returning from a journey, "May health and strength come back with
rest!" to a newly-married couple, "May you have sons like the father and
daughters like the mother!" and to one who has lost a friend, "May God
give you what he did not live to enjoy!" Among other salutations in
frequent use are, "May God make you glad!" "May your sheep be multiplied!"
"May you blossom like a garden!" "May your hearth-fire never be put out!"
and "May God give you the good that you expect not!"

The curses of the Caucasus are as bitter and vindictive as its greetings
are courteous and kind-hearted. I have often heard it said by the Persians
and Tatars who live along the Lower Volga that there is no language to
swear in like the Russian; and I must admit that they illustrated and
proved their assertion when occasion offered in the most fluent and
incontrovertible manner; but I am convinced, after having heard the curses
of experts in all parts of the East, that for variety, ingenuity and force
the profanity of the Caucasian mountaineers is unsurpassed. They are by no
means satisfied with damning their adversary's soul after the vulgar
manner of the Anglo-Saxon, but invoke the direst calamities upon his body
also; as, for example, "May the flesh be stripped from your face!" "May
your heart take fire!" "May eagles drink your eyes!" "May your name be
written on a stone!" (_i.e._ a tombstone); "May the shadow of an owl fall
on your house!" (this, owing probably to the rarity of its occurrence, is
regarded as a fatal omen); "May your hearth-fire be put out!" "May you be
struck with a hot bullet!" "May your mother's milk come with shame!" "May
you be laid on a ladder!" (alluding to the Caucasian custom of using a
ladder as a bier);