202 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



of climbs down rocks as big as bathing-vans, and when 

 we got to him he smelt so intolerably, and his outside 

 feathers sheltered such armies of lice, that we left him 

 to make a meal for his rapacious cannibal friends. We 

 measured his wings, and the span of them came out at 

 six and a half feet. He was a dirty ash-grey in colour, 

 with a bald and knowing head, yellow beak, and very 

 scaly feet. An unattractive personality — very. 



Now we began to talk of departure, for yet many 

 creatures remained to be hunted in other parts, and 

 there was so little time to hunt them in, as none of us 

 yearned to face the rigours of a Caucasian winter. 



Ali was all for remaining where we were. He drew 

 his two roubles a day complacently, and presently would 

 be rich enough, he said, to essay matrimony ! Well, 

 it must take some contriving in a country where it is 

 conducted on so generous a scale. But really our 

 servant had left things very late. With us at home if a 

 man waits until he has sufficient money on which to 

 negotiate matrimony comfortably, he usually gains 

 enough sense not to. 



The little shooting-box was shut up for the winter 

 as we passed it. Everything looked very forlorn 

 and lonely. Broken horns of tur lay about the 

 plateau whereon we had picnicked so short a time 

 ago ; a loose wooden slate rattled desolately. There 

 was nothing for it but to take the borrowed " extras " 

 to Lagodekki, not much out of our way, and restore 

 tjiem to the owners. 



Over the bleak Vanlishet Pass — like the Bad Lands 

 of Dakota, covered with rocks shaped like prehistoric 



