CRASNOI LAIS. 37 



sledge and there tapped, the forester, with three or 

 four to help him, forming the Cossacks in line, and 

 giving each man his nip in rotation, which he 

 pitched straight down his throat in true Russian 

 style, without ever giving the liquid time to wet 

 the sides in passing. As the men went down after 

 taking their nip, I noticed they coolly fell in again 

 at the other end, and in time got another turn. 

 One enormously tall fellow in a white sheepskin 

 hat, which must have been double the height and 

 circumference of an English ' topper/ with a crown 

 of green cloth, got three drams in this way. But 

 his hat and his height betrayed him, and put an 

 end to the affair. 



During the rest of the drives the sport varied 

 very little ; first came the wolves, slinking out 

 almost before the beaters had entered the other 

 side of the covert, then the deer, wild cats, and 

 foxes in regular succession, and last of all the roes 

 and hares. If there had been boars or bears I 

 believe they would probably have followed the 

 wolves and preceded the deer. But there were 

 rione seen all day. 



When the game was counted out at evening 

 the bag was one red deer, nine roe, two wild cats 

 (splendid yellow tabbies, half as large again as a 

 large domestic mouser), three foxes, two skunks, 

 much prized for their pelts, and 1 75 hares, and this 

 divided amongst some twenty guns, of whom two- 



