i8o A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



men as gillie, took the southern nullah, whilst I 

 proceeded on horseback due east, escorted by the 

 General and one of the Ganal youngsters. I rode 

 for about an hour up a side valley through densely 

 entangled brushwood and tall grass, picking up count- 



THE AUTHOR ON THE WAR-I'ATH AT VEKSHINA. 



less mosquitoes on the way ; I could hear their un- 

 pleasant buzz in the dark as we involuntarily kept 

 shaking them off the bushes in our progress. A light 

 mist still hung round the hilltops and crept along the 

 slopes when we dismounted at the bottom of a ravine, 

 whence the ponies could go no further. In fact, the 



