EUROPEAN BIG CAME 161 



BEAR DRIVING IN RUSSIA 

 BY THK EARL OF KILMOREY 



No sportsman passing a winter in Russia should leave the 

 country without trying his hand at bear shooting. 



It is not necessary to go great distances from St. Petersburg 

 to satisfy every desire, as plenty of bears are to be found in the 

 enormous forests which still cover innumerable square miles 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the principal lines of rail- 

 way. Moreover, to simplify matters for residents and foreigners 

 alike, information concerning the whereabouts of bears is being 

 constantly brought to St. Petersburg during the season, either 

 by letter, or more often by estate agents or by the head-men 

 of villages, who come up to the capital for the purpose. 



Personal interviews are to be preferred, at which all the 

 necessary arrangements can be entered into, prices fixed, con- 

 tracts for beaters and sledges made, and a plan of campaign 

 drawn out and agreed upon. The countrymen accustomed to 

 this business not unfrequently exhibit considerable intelligence 

 when an amount of organisation and generalship is required 

 which would much interest and amuse our keepers and stalkers 

 at home. Old hands always make payment by results the 

 basis of their contracts, for disappointments are frequent, no 

 doubt unavoidably so in some cases, though very often the 

 unconscious sportsman is made to wade through the whole 

 business of the ckasse, everyone present, barring his innocent 

 self, knowing full well that Mr. Bear nyett doma i.e. is not at 

 home. 



Russians are beginning to fear that foreigners will soon 

 spoil their sport, as foreigners usually do, by paying too much 

 per pood for their bears, too much per diem for their 

 conveyances, too much for their lodgings, and too much na 

 tchai (tea money) at the close of the proceedings ; but, under 

 the direction of gentlemen who can speak the language fluently, 



II. M 



