THE CAUCASUS 23 



of prejudice be taken into consideration by all who read this 

 chapter, and with it the verdict of my quondam companion 

 in Svanetia : ' The Caucasus is an accursed country to hunt 

 in, a country of ceaseless climbing and chronic starvation, in 

 which the sport is not nearly worth the candle.' This was the 

 honest conviction of one who is no mean sportsman, and who 

 since his Caucasian experiences has done exceptionally w^ell 

 in India. 



But men define sport differently. To those whose ambition 

 it is to kill really wild game in a wild and savage country in 

 which they will get but little help from any but their own right 

 hands, to them I say, try the high solitudes round Elbruz and 

 the ironstone ridges of Svanetia. 



The best time for sport in the mountains is the end of June, 

 July, August, and the first week in September, after which 

 another month may be spent profitably hunting bear and boar 

 in the chestnut forests on the Black Sea ; for aurochs the 

 hunter should be in the sylvan labyrinths at the head of the 

 Kuban in August. 



Taking London as your point of departure, you can reach 

 the Caucasus by four different routes : either by Paris, Mar- 

 seilles, and thence by one of the boats of the Messageries 

 Maritimes (running once a fortnight) via Constantinople to 

 Batoum ; or by Calais, Cologne, Vienna and Odessa, to 

 Batoum ; or by the Oriental Express via Paris and Constanti- 

 nople; or by Wilson's line of boats from Hull to St. Petersburg, 

 and thence by rail via Moscow and Voroneze to Vladikavkaz. 



The first route takes about eleven days, and costs about 

 16/. i6j-. ; the second takes (roughly) nine days, and costs 

 about 20/. The third route is, I believe, the quickest and most 

 expensive, but I have not tried it. 



My own favourite route is the fourth, by adopting which you 

 gain the advantage of a quiet and untroubled journey, with few 

 vexatious changes, only one custom-house (and that with a 

 consul-general at hand to help you through), and the possibility 

 of alighting from the train within a drive of the outskirts of 



