t64 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



rounding Cape Horn in May, fade into nothing compared with 

 the memory of what the air felt like in the province of Novgorod 

 in the early morning of March 5/18, 1889. We were covered 

 with hoar frost, and our coat collars and comforters, where they 

 crossed over our faces, were frozen as hard as boards. We cal- 

 culated that the thermometer stood at 24 to 28 Reaumur 

 that morning between three and five o'clock. 



6 A.M. brought us to a waking village called Zaruchi, 

 72 versts (or about 48 miles) from Malo Vyschera, where 

 we were not sorry to make a light breakfast of the inevitable 

 tea. Here began what turned out to be our daily disappoint- 

 ments. Three bears, which we had fondly hoped to have 

 encompassed and slain in that immediate neighbourhood, had 

 been quietly disposed of during the past week to higher 

 bidders, and three lynxes, said to have been seen not far off 

 only the day before, were an hour later reported to have 

 ' vamosed.' There was no good waiting any longer at Zaruchi, 

 so as soon as fresh sledges had been provided, we started again 

 on a 4o-verst stage to Crasova. The rising sun changed the 

 entire aspect of affairs ; gradually the air got warmer, and very 

 often in sheltered places the heat was almost oppressive. At 

 Crasova, where we put up at the agent's house, we lunched 

 and made arrangements to pass the night, and at i P.M. we 

 started once more to drive 15 versts to our first bear. There 

 is no denying that fatigue and sleeplessness were now beginning 

 to tell, and that all hands were dog-tired ; but excitement 

 kept us up. 



We arrived on our ground about 3 P.M., and, leaving 

 our overcoats in the sledges, placed ourselves unreservedly 

 under the direction of one Alexei Nicolai'evitch, as general 

 of the division, his two brothers, Ivan and Dimitri, acting as 

 brigadiers. 



Before us was ranged the army of beaters, collected from 

 the immediate district, some seventy to eighty persons of all 

 ages, sorts, sizes and sexes, a goodly show. The beat on this, 

 as on other occasions, was arranged in the shape of an 



