150 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



eight a.m. en route for Natchiki, a settlement twenty- 

 two miles distant. The weather had now cleared 

 again. Queer-shaped volcanic rocks and cones, still 

 almost entirely snow-covered, rose to our left. A well- 

 defined path denoted a certain amount of traffic, and 

 took us at first through monotonous birch forests, some 

 of the trees attainino; huoe dimensions ; the orass in 

 places was high, and the undergrowth at times so thick 

 that there was no trace of the path. A capercaillie got 

 up within range of shot and fiew silently through the 

 wood, settling down a little further ; a sprinkling of 

 white in the plumage showed his northern origin. 

 Our ponies seemed now fairly accustomed to their 

 new duty, and though the more vicious ones seemed 

 inclined to provoke a stampede, they were soon 

 brought to order. The path, or native "highway," 

 was marked by oval cuts in the bark of the birches, 

 some six feet above level, as well as by poles ir- 

 regularly stuck in the open ground, where absence 

 of trees failed to indicate the winter road. The 

 scenery changed insensibly as we advanced at an easy 

 canter, the woods gradually giving way to willow and 

 juniper bushes, low creeping cedars, and patches of 

 yellow rhododendron in full bloom. After crossing a 

 rapid stream, the Topola. a tributary of the Avatcha, 

 we halted for our midday rest. I in(|uired of one of 



