36 SAVAOE SVANETIA. 



and red deer, but by daylight you can do 

 nothing with the game, and any attempt to 

 lie in wait for them at night would be 

 rendered futile by clouds of the hungriest 

 mosquitoes in Asia. 



Of all the denizens of the marsh the bull- 

 frogs were the noisiest, and a tyro might be 

 forgiven some momentary misgivmgs if he 

 felt them, when a sudden chorus of these 

 creatures, till then unheard and unsuspected, 

 bellowed forth their displeasure as he un- 

 wittingly intruded on their domams. Like 

 all other Russian sporting guides, ours had 

 brought their guns, and though their weapons 

 were the most primitive muzzle-loaders, though 

 they measured shot and powder by hand 

 alone, and plucked the damp grass of the fen 

 for wads, I don't thmk the snipe had a much 

 better chance with them than with our breech- 

 loaders. 



On our way back several big oily rises 



