THE CAUCASUS 31 



Sea. On its road from Elbruz to the sea it receives the waters 

 of every stream which drains to the north-west of the chain ; 

 and it is here, between the Kuban and the mountains, and 

 upon the banks and head waters of the Kuban's tributaries, that 

 the hunting grounds of Northern Caucasus are to be found. 



Going east from Taman along the line of the Kuban, the 

 country is broken up by huge beds of a tall reed called kamish 

 by the natives (Arundo phragmites of the naturalists), which 

 grows to such a height as to hide a man riding through it. In 

 places these reed beds stretch for miles, and through them the 

 Kuban runs, a dull sluggish flood, more like a great canal 

 than a mountain-born river. 



Its banks of black mud, however, are interesting enough to 

 the sportsman, written over as they are with the ' sign ' of the 

 beasts which find safe harbour in the adjoining jungles. 



Of these beasts the commonest is the wild boar, an animal 

 which I believe grows to larger proportions, and exists in 

 greater numbers, in the Caucasus than anywhere else on earth. 

 A pair of tusks, the tracings of which are before me now (the 

 originals being in the possession of Colonel Veerubof, Governor 

 of Naltchik), measure round the outside edge n^ ins. and 

 ii ins. respectively. 



Like the European wild boar, the Caucasian beast is of a 

 blackish-grey colour, covered with a long coat of stiff bristles, 

 which he erects along his spine when irritated, making him 

 appear some inches taller than he really is. Professor Radde, 

 of the Tiflis Museum, has been kind enough to supply me with 

 the following particulars. 'The largest solitary boars,' he says, 

 ' measured at the shoulder and measured straight, stand about 

 105 centimeters, and their total weight not dressed rarely 

 exceeds 15 puds (600 Ibs.).' These are undoubtedly big beasts, 

 but in the chestnut forests of Circassia, and in the reed beds 

 of the Kuban, there are such rich feeding grounds that in 

 them even a 6oo-lb. boar seems possible. In India, I suppose, 

 to shoot a boar is as vile a crime as vulpecide in Leicester- 

 shire, but, except on the plains of Kabardah, there is no place 



