MORE DAYS OF ROAMING AND SPORT 295 



with stars. The famihar contour of the Great Bear, 

 with its seven outpost stars, looked down on us 

 serenely, and a blue brilliant we could not name 

 challenged the brightness of Orion himself. 



And yet — I cannot conscientiously recommend the 

 Kouban forests as an ideal spot for campers-out ! The 

 rampant vegetation and miasma-laden marshes shelter 

 many small harmful things as well as harmless, betwixt 

 which only the eye of a magician could tell the difference. 

 A horrible little scorpion, wasps, and fire ants all go 

 big-game hunting, also the never-never-failing mosquito 

 and a small but persevering leech. This aspect of 

 shikar is not attractive. 



At nights the mist hanging on the marshes hinted of 

 fever, and we redoubled our precautions. We never 

 touched water save in our tea, and of that we took 

 sparingly. The natives themselves cannot pass a 

 brook of any kind without stooping to drink from it. 



But, sitting at the tent door watching the moon 

 rise in silver glory above the tree tops, even the most 

 pessimistic hunter would not dwell on the discomforts 

 of Caucasian sport. How could he, with the musical 

 voices of the river's edge in his ears, and every sound so 

 wonderfully in harmony with the solemnity of the 

 night. 



From the deep blue of the sky comes the " Honck ! 

 Honck ! " of geese flying in the familiar wedge-like 

 form, perhaps as many as two hundred in the skein, 

 and the prolonged wail of the curlew, like a Chopin 

 prelude — the fourth, I think — livened by the cheery 

 piping of the quails. 



