344 THE RAINS. 



on inspection it was found that- one large beast of 

 half sheep-dog, half setter breed, had been killed on 

 his chain by a lynx in the very middle of the town, 

 and partially eaten where he lay. 



It has been said that there is very little game 

 in the Caucasus, and it was partly to correct that 

 mistake that this book was written. To show 

 how far from true the' assertion is, Mons. G., with 

 whom I was staying at Sotcha, told me that before 

 the Tscherkesses left the Caucasus it was their 

 custom to make an annual expedition to the main 

 chain of the mountains along the Black Sea coast, 

 between, say, Anapa and Sukhoum, to obtain game 

 to salt for winter use. On one of these expeditions 

 my informant accompanied seven Circassians, a 

 few years before their evacuation of their native 

 wilds ; and, during a fortnight, of which at least 

 a week was spent in coming and going, the eight 

 guns made an enormous, though by no means 

 unusually large bag, of which one single item 

 was forty-two chamois. There were also bears, 

 ibex, mention, and red-deer among the slain ; and 

 though on this occasion they saw no aurochs, 

 Mons. G. assured me that lie has seen some even 

 more recently than that. 



On the second day at Sotcha, after a row witli 

 the chief of the Cossacks, I managed to get horses 

 for rny now formidable party, composed, with the 

 exception of myself and servant Ivan, of volun- 



