22 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



pillars of the former gateways of Odessa, 

 opening on to the steppe, bears the cumbrous 

 and untidy burden of their nests ; and again 

 and again during the day we came upon 

 small, whitewashed cottages which appeared 

 to have been made the foundation of a con- 

 siderable woodstack. On the top, in medi- 

 tative mood, stood the stork, as self-possessed 

 and as much at home as the human bipeds 

 who dwelt beneath his nest. But if we had 

 not had very ample food for conversation, 

 the drive from Odessa to Troitsky would 

 have been insupportably dull. The sport 

 within reach of residents at Odessa, we found 

 from our friend, was by no means to be 

 despised ; two hundred and fifty woodcock 

 in a week, to two guns, being sufficient 

 almost in itself to tempt men to visit> Odessa. 

 In the neighbouring government of Podolia, 

 too, wolf-shootino; drives are ors^anised on a 

 grand scale, to say nothing of a more ex- 



