A VISIT TO THE PRINCE 259 



which hurry to the tryst from the snow-lields lying 

 west of the Khikhor Pass. 



We rambled up deep ravines cutting the skirts of the 

 great mountains, and climbed to the heights above, 

 from whence we caught glimpses of ice-robed Elbruz, 

 and the main chain streaking away to the south beyond 

 the Klukhor, a line of glittering pinnacles, with the 

 silver sheen of opalescent glaciers curving off into the 

 mists. 



The heads of all the valleys hereabouts were likely 

 ground for tur and chamois, and in the forests around 

 the castle bear tracks were very numerous. 



On a sandy bank two wild cats kept a faithful diary 

 in which all their comings and goings, their squabbles 

 and makings-up, were duly recorded. 



Ali told us that the spoor was that of " barse," as 

 the natives call the leopard, and befogged me much 

 until I discovered that he had a habit of terming all 

 the members of the cat tribe " barse " indiscriminately. 



The leopard might be extinct in the Caucasus for all 

 the sportsman sees of the beast, but he is there all 

 right, and in this Kuban district, in high rocky fast- 

 nesses, above man's footsteps, we occasionally came 

 on traces of the elusive creature. He is certainly not 

 numerous, although more so, probably, than is generally 

 imagined. To make even the roughest calculation of 

 the numbers of these night-hunters, who inhabit a 

 region abounding in chamois and small game, would be 

 beyond the powers of even a competent naturalist- 

 statistician. None of the Prince's retainers were 

 naturalists, and their statistics were oral tradition. 



