78 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



forests near the sources of the Leba and Bjillaga 

 rivers, their headquarters being in the dense woods 

 of the Kisha valley. These Caucasian animals are, 

 however, comparatively rare, and as many as five 

 are seldom seen together, though it is said that thirty 

 years ago herds of fifty or sixty head then occurred 

 in the same regions. 1 Seventy bison horns, set in 

 silver, figured at a feast given by some Caucasian 

 nobles in honour of General von Rosen ; a single 

 horn holds barely four litres of liquor. 



The Lithuanian herd are almost park animals. 

 The forest which they inhabit consists of a flat 

 woodland, timbered with magnificent limes and other 

 trees, and intersected by a number of grass rides 

 drawn at right angles to each other. This reserve 

 was originally made by Augustus III., who enclosed 

 thirty square miles with a strong wooden fence thirty 

 metres high. A stand having been erected for the 

 marksmen, the bison were driven through an opening 

 in the fence twenty feet away. In one day forty-two 

 head were killed in this unsportsmanlike fashion ; 

 the queen slew twenty of them, and filled in the time 

 by reading a novel till the beaters came up ! 



At the present day, it is satisfactory to note, the 

 Lithuanian bison are pretty strictly looked after. 

 The forest is patrolled by a military guard ; so 

 severe are the game laws that it has been said that 



1. The fire-breathing bulls of the Argonauts were probably Caucasian 

 bison, red-eyed and savage. 



