DENSE COVERTS. 141 



hoarse cough long pent up, a sudden charge 

 through the thickets close by, with indignant 

 snortings, told us that the herd was just approach- 

 ing as we left. 



On our way back, as we crossed a small tribu- 

 tary of the Golovinsk, a big silvery thing slid off a 

 stone into the water, and swam along the bottom 

 of the shallow stream close by me. In the grey 

 morning light it looked to my drowsy eyes like a 

 large fish, and it was not until I heard Stepan's 

 wretched old gun miss fire that I recognised in it 

 a very fine otter ; then, of course, it dived into 

 deeper water, and was lost to us. Many of these, 

 as well as a few sea-otters, are found between 

 Novorossisk and Sukhoum, and my man showed 

 me the skins of several which he had killed ; but 

 though I frequently saw their spoor, this was the 

 only live specimen it was ever my luck to see. 



Another long night we sat down under a 

 juniper bush on the shingle that has, at some time 

 or other, formed the bed of a broader Golovinsk, or 

 has been brought down by the stream during its 

 winter floods. On the opposite bank rose the hill 

 forest, coming down in thorny thickets to the 

 water's edge. Half a mile behind us, on our side 

 the stream, the other forest began, and a quarter 

 of a mile below us the sea kept moaning. On all 

 the little patches of sand the tracks of game were 

 numerous and recent, and we had good hopes of 



