184 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



the village in a direction at right angles to 

 our route, but nearer than that no man knew 

 where we were likely to find any. As for 

 deer and l^oar, with which we had heard that 

 the forest teemed, it was quite true that when 

 the snow lay deep in the very middle of 

 winter many were tracked and killed, but 

 whither they went or where they hid them- 

 selves in summer no one knew. 



A good many of our dreams of sport were 

 dispelled that night, but in the morning, 

 lia\ ing a definite end in view, Platon, Keeser- 

 mann and I shouldered our loads — blankets, 

 rifles, change of clothes, food, &c. — dividmg 

 the things equally amongst us, and started 

 down the Ingour like men who, having far to 

 travel, are not so foolish as to start fiist. 



Considering that the road through the 

 forest of Lekera is almost if not absolutely the 

 only way into Svanetia from the outside world 

 which is at all practicable in winter, it is 



