364 THE HUNTING GEOUNDS 



not to be wondered at if he never mentions how 

 and when he got it. 



Omer Pacha had appropriated to himself the whole 

 of the plunder of Princess Dadien's palace at Sug- 

 didi, despatching for his own use, at Constantinople, 

 a magnificent collection of furniture, consisting of 

 chairs and couches covered with crimson velvet, 

 beautiful inlaid tables, magnificent chandeliers, and 

 articles of virtu, which looked like recent importa- 

 tions from Paris. The tame deer and peafowl were 

 killed for his table, and the exotic plants trans- 

 ported to his garden at Stamboul. 



Story-telling is a great amusement amongst the 

 Turks, and each of us in his turn had to contribute 

 some anecdote for the amusement of the rest. 



The Abassian chief gave us a very thrilling 

 account of the loss of five of his tribe, with some 

 prisoners, by wolves, during the winter of 1852, 

 when the whole country lay covered with snow for 

 months together. It appears that a force had been 

 collected and sent out in the plains to harass and 

 annoy the Russians, but having met with a reverse, 

 they scattered, and each tribe made the best of their 

 way homeward. The Abassian party, to which the 

 narrator belonged, consisted of eleven men fairly 

 mounted and armed with matchlocks, pistols, and 

 swords, with five prisoners — four Eussian soldiers 

 and a woman. As they were traversing a vast 

 steppe or plain they perceived a pack of seven wolves 

 slowly following them, of which number they killed 



