1 88 TIFLIS. 



women. The streets are overgrown everywhere 

 with belladonna, one of the commonest weeds here. 

 But whilst meditating over the desolation of Suk- 

 houm, and gathering its wild roses, the whistle of 

 the steamer broke unpleasantly on my ear, and my 

 friend and myself had the nearest escape of being 

 left behind for a week, by the end of which time we 

 should have had enough of Sukhoum I think. 



On board the steamer I met a certain Col. G-., a 

 very well-known and successful sportsman, not only 

 in the Caucasus but throughout Russia. He had 

 spent three years between Elbruz and Sukhoum, 

 and had devoted a great deal of his time to sport, 

 but admitted that he knew very little of the country 

 yet. It was his opinion that this district is richer 

 in game than any other part of the country; and if 

 by game you mean only large game, I entirely 

 agree with him. In this comparatively small area 

 he himself had either shot or seen shot aurochs (bos 

 urus), ' ollen ' (Russian red deer), roebuck, ibex, 

 chamois, wild goat, mountain sheep (tur), leopards, 

 lynxes, otters, bears (of which he too said there 

 were at least two kinds), jackals, and here, and here 

 only, the black wolf. This is a beast of which I 

 have heard frequent mention on the Black Sea 

 coast, but have never seen it. It is probably only a 

 slight variety of the ordinary animal, but I think, 

 from frequent mention made of it, that it must be 

 a variety which is more or less prevalent in this 



