xvn THE BOAR 319 



line of forest, to intercept all animals within the beat; but no 

 accident had ever occurred in the neighbourhood, and the vast 

 numbers of large oak trees which composed the forest would be 

 certain to intercept a bullet before it had passed through its flight 

 for 50 yards. 



In all these hunts a spirit of goodwill and fair-play pervaded the 

 people. If the Turks killed wild boar, they handed over the game 

 to the Christian community, who were delighted to obtain the 

 meat. On the other hand, if the Greeks or Armenians killed a 

 deer, it was presented to the Turks, most of whom, as hunters, 

 regarded the death by bullet as equivalent to the cutting of the 

 throat by a knife, and they accepted the animal without 

 protest. 



Some of the boars that we killed in these drives were very large, 

 and excessively fat. There was nothing so good to be obtained in 

 the market; vegetables were very plentiful, and cheap. One 

 favourite dish was wild boar, stewed with leeks, onions, and cauli- 

 flowers ; to vary this dish when we had nearly tired, we changed 

 it to "leeks, onions, and cauliflowers, stewed with wild boar." 

 One of the largest I killed one night by moonlight, by wandering 

 along the skirts of the forest upon the snow, and waiting until I 

 heard the animal crunching through the frozen substance. Having 

 a white paper fore-sight, I could shoot with tolerable accuracy. It 

 was astonishing to witness how the wild hogs could plough their 

 way through deep frozen snow. I was well furnished with snow- 

 shoes, the wood being that of the fig tree, light and tough, never- 

 theless I could never overtake these powerful and active animals, 

 although they must have suffered considerably ; I have frequently 

 seen the snow discoloured with blood, where the sharp frozen sur- 

 face had lacerated the legs of the hogs when breaking .through, in 

 ploughing their way forwards. 



The pleasure of shooting at Sabanja consisted in the diversity 

 of game ; it was impossible to foretell what the creature might be 

 that would appear before the line of beaters. Although we fre- 

 quently shot roe-deer, I never attained a shot at red-deer. I took 

 great pains, but these animals were invariably concealed amongst 

 dense rhododendrons near the tops of the mountains ; I several 

 times heard their sudden rush and caught sight of them only for 

 one instant, but I could not fire. 



There was excellent pike and perch fishing in the Sabanja lake, 

 and at the expiration of our visit I determined if possible to renew 

 my acquaintance with the people and their delightful wilderness. 

 Fate has led me into various portions of the world since then, and 



