134 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



peopled, and there occur actual blocks in the migratory stream, which 

 must be the more striking in contrast to the usual desolateness and 

 emptiness of the forest. The scenes of old conflagrations are 

 favourite rendezvous, for, on the fertilized soil, berry-bearing bushes 

 of various sorts have sprung up and attained luxuriant growth. 

 Here, in autumn, the Siberian herbivores find a rich harvest, and not 

 only they, but wolves and foxes, martens and gluttons, sables and 

 bears, primarily attracted by the collected herds, may be seen ban- 

 queting, devouring the berries with evident pleasure. The different 

 animals thus brought together seem to remain for a time in a cer- 

 tain correlation. The herbivores, as observant sportsmen have 

 noticed, keep with unmistakable constancy to the berries; and the 

 carnivores follow closely in their tracks., 



These migrations explain how it is that during certain years 

 some of the woods are filled with all kinds of beasts of the chase, 

 while during other years they are entirely forsaken. The traveller 

 from the west, who journeys in late winter or early spring in 

 Western Siberia, beholds with astonishment a flock of three to five 

 hundred black-game rise in crowded flight from the highway through 

 the forest, and learns with not less astonishment a little later that 

 the same or even more favourable woods are but sparsely stocked 

 with these birds. In summer he searches in the most suitable 

 localities for the hazel-grouse, and is discouraged because his search 

 is continually futile; in autumn he is pleasantly surprised to see, on 

 the same places, abundance of the same game. 



So peculiar are the conditions due to the monotonous uniformity 

 of wide stretches, that the huntsman who will make sure of his 

 booty must be very familiar with them; indeed, even the most 

 skilful and experienced sportsman is always and everywhere in the 

 measureless forests at the mercy of chance. Whatever be the game 

 he pursues, he never can predict where he will find it. Yesterday 

 the goddess of the chase was kind to extravagance; to-day she 

 refuses him every aid. There is no lack of game, but the huntsman 

 who had to live on what he shot would starve. A sportsman's life, 

 such as is possible in other latitudes, is inconceivable in Western 

 Siberia; the profit to be derived from the forest chase is incon- 



