316 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 



peatedly made use of the latter in our visits to the 

 outwork Kalakent and the Shamkhor on the picturesque 

 line, carried often over perilous abysses. 



Despite the often rather annoying fumes from the 

 works we fully enjoyed in glorious autumn weather 

 the charms of the beautiful environs of Kedabeg. 



o 



Among the special delights must be reckoned a bear- 

 hunt, which we attended in the so-called paradise. 

 This name is borne by a small table-land, bordered 

 by the rivers Shamkhor and Kalakent, which is splen- 

 didly situated and adorned with many wild fruit-trees. 

 The great abundance of fruit in the autumn attracts 

 the bears of the neighbourhood, and the officials of 

 our mine had often instituted successful bear-hunts in 

 this season. 



We passed the night in the branch smelting house 

 Kalakent, and at sunrise repaired for the chase to the 

 neighbouring mountains, which during the night had 

 been surrounded by our forest -keeper with a chain 

 of beaters. It was a wonderfully fine morning, and 

 the noiseless march on the lonely hunting paths in 

 constant expectation of the bears was not without a 

 charm. After a rather long time, passed in intense 

 expectation, we heard in the far distance the call of 

 the beaters resounding from the summit of the slope, 

 the base of which we held. Nothing else was heard in 



o 



the general stillness except the falling of the autumn 

 leaves, a sound, with which hitherto I had only made 

 acquaintance in novels. I was posted on a narrow moun- 

 tain-path between brother Charles and Dr. Hammacher. 



