T1FLIS. 189 



country. The best place for aurochs now is 

 between the Pscebai and upper Zelenduk rivers, 

 according to my friend. Col. Gr. told me of another 

 animal, which he declares exists in the Caucasus on 

 the Kuban river, to wit the beaver ; but as I never 

 heard of this creature's existence there from any of 

 the natives of the Kuban districts, or from any 

 naturalist, Russian or other, whom I have since 

 met, I think this last statement of the gallant 

 colonel's must be taken ' cum grano salis.' 



Arrived at Poti, I found a very fair hotel for 

 such a town, managed by an obliging old French- 

 man ; and though Poti is built on an undrained 

 swamp, I escaped without the fever. I was met 

 at Poti by an Englishman, who was at that time 

 acting vice-consul for Great Britain, and was himself 

 employed as agent to a large timber firm in Eng- 

 land. To this gentleman, Mr. Carroll, I owe 

 many thanks for his useful hints for my journey. 

 The timber of which he exports most from the 

 Black Sea coast, is, he tells me, box, of which large 

 quantities are found in the adjacent forests ; and 

 the burr of the walnut-tree, an excrescence in 

 appearance rather like a huge fungus, but hard and 

 of most beautifully grained wood, out of which the 

 thin layers are cut, which are used in England for 

 veneering, etc. The cost of finding and trans- 

 porting these woods from the forests in the interior 

 of the Caucasus, between which and Poti com- 



