THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



By DEMIDOFF prince SAN DONATO 



' f ^ HE title of this article may appear to indicate a rash enterprise, 



-^ if a detailed account is expected of the variety of sport to be 



obtained over that vast area, the Russian Empire, extending as it 



does over one-third of the Q-lobe, In undertakino- such a task, I hnd 



it necessary to limit myself strictly to the more important items and 



to treat them as briefly as possible, for on every one 



of them separately sufficient material mioht be found for ^^^^ ^^^^ 



of the 

 a respectable-sized volume. Hunting" in the Caucasus Empire. 



would alone take up a well-employed and busy sports- 

 man's lifetime. In that case how many lives would be required for 

 a thorough acquaintance with the big game of Siberia, spread over 

 thousands of miles of practically unknown country ! How many 

 years might be spent in the successful exploration of Russian 

 Turkestan and the Pamir Steppes, the mighty " Roof of the 

 World " ! And all this vast territory excludes Russia proper, which 

 again contains animals of every description, from the polar bear and 

 the walrus to the ibex and the gazelle. How is one to compress 

 such a variety of details in a few thousand words, and describe these 

 various kinds of sport within the limits of a short and concise article ? 



Needless to say, it cannot be done. All one can do is to try and 



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