GOLOVINSKY. 117 



mains cowering on the ground, an easy prey to the 

 trapper. But I could never hear of any one amongst 

 the Tscherkesses, Cossacks, or 'plastoons' (settlers), 

 who had either done this or heard of its being done ; 

 and I believe I am right in saying that the Rus- 

 sians, at least in the Crimea and Caucasus, know 

 very little of trapping, and indeed of woodcraft 

 generally. 



I had passed the first part of this my first night 

 at Golovinsky, sleeping as well as I could in my 

 only too well ventilated quarters ; and rising while 

 it was still dark, Stepan and I had wiled .away the 

 time in chatting of the snares and traps with which 

 different nations used to kill their game. As we 

 chatted he busied himself on a pair of rough sandals 

 or mocassins he was making for me from the skin 

 of a wild boar he had killed in the spring. As 

 soon as they were finished, he steeped them in 

 water to soften them, and then, first wrapping my 

 leg round with canvas, he fastened on the sandals, 

 winding the long laces round and round the canvas 

 until they fastened just below the knee. Thus I 

 was booted and gaitered a la mode Circassienne in 

 a very short time ; and as the dawn slowly broke 

 over the mountains, and the stars grew pale and 

 died in the grey of morning, we left our hut and 

 walked hard to warm ourselves in the soft rain that 

 began with dawn. 



On our way to the forest, which beiraii at the 



