THE FORESTS AND SPORT OF SIBERIA. 149 



by the snorting, they row with muffled oars towards the browsing 

 creature, whose scent and hearing are dulled by his grubbing; at 

 close range they send a bullet through him. The clearness of the 

 northern summer night facilitates operations, though it renders 

 close approach more difficult; yet the sport is all the more exciting, 

 and by eager lovers of the chase it is pursued passionately, and 

 usually with success. On the advent of frost the elk leaves the 

 swamps, for the brittle coat of ice hinders his movements, and hies 

 to the drier parts of the forest until the thickly falling snow forces 

 him to wander in search of specially favourable localities. At this 

 season the chase of the elk, with well-trained and, above all, silent 

 dogs, is preferred to all other sport. In its wanderings the elk does 

 not avoid human settlements, and betraying itself by its unmis- 

 takable footprints, soon has the huntsman on its heels. Now is the 

 time to send the dogs after it. Their duty is to keep the creature 

 continually agog, but never to chase it. They must never attack it 

 in the rear, nor ever come too near it, but must rather bark at 

 it continually, and keep its attention unceasingly engrossed. When 

 the elk sees itself thus threatened in front it stops after a short 

 trot, looks angrily at the dogs, seems trying to make up its mind to 

 attack them, but only in rare cases succeeds in carrying out the 

 resolution so slowly arrived at, and thus gives the sportsmen time 

 to get within easy range, and to take sure aim. If a small herd of 

 elk is suddenly surprised by the dogs and driven into a narrow 

 defile, they may be so nonplussed that several may fall before a 

 well-handled rifle. But when old experienced elks are pursued for 

 some time during a heavy snowfall they take the first trodden path 

 which they come across, and trot along it whether it lead to the 

 recesses of the forest or to the township; thus they are not unfre- 

 quently led quite close to inhabited houses, on seeing which they 

 diverge into the woods. A hard crust of snow is not less dangerous to 

 the elks than to the roe-deer; and then the spirited and experienced 

 huntsmen pursue them even with boar-spears, speeding along on 

 snow-shoes, outrunning and fatiguing the impeded animals till they 

 can use the ancient weapons to good effect. The flesh is readily 

 eaten both by immigrants and natives, but it has no great market 



