GOLOVINSKY. 115 



at Kertch using old rifle-barrels worn thin, tied on 

 to a rough stock, with flint lock, &c., the whole 

 thing being compounded of the remains of some 

 venerable weapon in use in the Russian army 

 immediately after the invention of gunpowder. 

 Stepan's was no exception to this rule, and yet 

 I distinctly remember seeing him put in charges 

 which I would not have ventured to put into my 

 high-class breech-loader. 



After putting the house in order, Stepan loaded 

 his valuable weapon with a good charge of powder 

 and two bullets, the first in its naturally smooth 

 state, the other chewed into a rough-edged mass. 

 Thus prepared we sallied forth and reconnoitred 

 the little plain within the hills. Everywhere the 

 tracks of bears, boars, wolves, and occasionally roe- 

 deer presented themselves to our eyes, but of the 

 animals themselves we saw nothing. Pheasants 

 rose several times from the bushes at our feet, and 

 Stepan tells me Golovinsky is a favourite abiding 

 place of theirs, in consequence of the quan- 

 tity of ' phaisantchik ' growing here, upon the 

 yellow berry of which they feed. The pheasants 

 have no bad taste in berries, for when ripe I 

 know no berry much pleasanter in flavour than 

 that of the ' phaisantchik,' in spite of its acidity. 

 The flavour strongly resembles that of the pine- 

 apple. 



Of course, as pheasants abound here. Stepan 

 i -2 



