Hunting in Many Lands 



of hunt, I could never look upon it with com- 

 plaisance. 



It is just this sort of hunt* for which the 

 barzoi has been specially bred, and which has 

 developed in him a tremendous spring ; at the 

 same time it has given him less endurance 

 than the English greyhound. It was highly 

 interesting to follow the hounds with the beat- 

 ers ; but, owing to the thickness of the woods 

 and the absence of trails, it was far from being 

 an easy task either for horse or rider. To re- 

 main at a post with a leash of hounds was 

 hardly active or exciting enough for me — ex- 

 cept when driving wolves — especially when the 

 hounds could be followed, or when the open 

 hunt could be enjoyed. In the second case the 

 hunters and huntsmen with leashes form a line 

 with intervals of lOO to 150 yards and march 

 for versts straight across the country, cracking 

 the terrible nagaika and uttering peculiar ex- 

 citing yells that would start game on a parade 



* In Northern Russia, owing to the extensive forest, brush and 

 marsh lands, every effort was made to utilize the small open spaces 

 or clearings for the greyhounds, and this was the usual way of 

 hunting ; while in Southern Russia, where steppes predominate, the 

 open hunt — chasse it cotirre — prevailed. This explains why the 

 Crimean barzoi also has more endurance than the now recognized 

 type from the north. 



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