2i6 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



Moreover, at noon, the heat was intense, and mos- 

 quitoes had by this time found us out, and swarmed 

 to attack our gauze nets. Being out of meat, I crept 

 back towards the youngster which I had despised, 

 rolling him over a rock to the bottom of the ravine, 

 where Silly was despatched to cut him up. We 

 discovered nothing else in the afternoon — not even 

 a bear — and striking one of the gullies, started home 

 thoroughly disheartened by continued failure. The 

 hardened snow of the mornino- had melted fast durino- 

 the day, and several times gave way under our weight 

 with a heavy thud as we descended the valley, with 

 the result of giving us many an involuntary bath in 

 the stream beneath. We were in sioht of the tents 

 at six p.m., and decided to abandon the Ganal hills. 

 I hoped to retrieve my luck in the Natchiki district, 

 or make a desperate attempt along the sea-coast, and 

 a general start was agreed upon. That evening, 

 when visiting the kitchen, I found Vasska busy 

 gathering, in a dirty bit of paper, what appeared to 

 be a black powder of some kind. On my inquiry 

 as to what it was, he explained to me, in his broken 

 dialect, that this was a precious medicine which he had 

 made himself of the dried hearts of wild sheep ; these 

 he had roasted and ground into powder, which he 

 said was a sure remedy against any kind of disease ; 



