THE RED FOREST AND BLACK SEA COAST. 59 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE RED FOREST AND BLACK SEA COAST. 



Journey to Taman Downpour on the steppe Tscherkess bourkas 

 Long-tailed horses Absence of cultivation The Moujiks Causes 

 of political discontent in Russia Veneration for the Czar Cheap- 

 ening supplies A Russian writer on Englishwomen Post stations 

 A terrible tragedy Hotels Ekateriuodar The fair Russian 

 tea Russian police Bivouacking with Cossack foresters Exciting 

 sport Shouting a white boar Sad disappointment Pheasant- 

 shooting A Cossack colonel An execrable journey Caucasian 

 women Great consumption of supplies In a Cossack saddle 

 Mineral springs A scorching bath Lotus-eaters Incidents of 

 the road An insolent Tartar Parting. 



ON Saturday, October 7, I left Kcrtch for Eka- 

 terinodar, intending to have a week's sport at my 

 old quarters in the Crasnoi Lais (lied Forest), 

 having written to that effect to Colonel R., the 

 forester, about a week before. My impedimenta 

 were a portmanteau, my gun and rifle, together 

 with a pointer (Calypso), which I had purchased 

 from an old shooting companion at Kertch. My 

 intention was to have some shooting in the Suran 

 district, where bears are said to be plentiful, to 

 stay a few days at Vladikavkaz, thence to pass on 

 to TiHis, and from Tin* is across the little known 

 Mooghan Steppe to the Caspian. But it is hardly 



