io8 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



journey. On this occasion, having plenty of food of 

 my own, I told the man who seemed to be the pre- 

 siding genius of the " han " not to prepare anything, 

 and Theodore soon had a cup of tea and some eggs 

 and bread ready for me. After making a good meal, I 

 put up my stretcher, and passed a comfortable night. 



On the following morning, we got away soon after 

 eight o'clock. The weather was bright but very cold, a 

 bitter wind making things unpleasant. In two hours' 

 time we reached a village just at the foot of the Murad 

 Mountains. Here we discharged our carts and hired 

 some horses and donkeys to carry our baggage to a 

 camping place in the mountains, which we reached in 

 the afternoon. The snow was lying all round, but 

 not very thickly, and we chose a place to pitch the 

 tents close to a little spring of good water and under 

 some large fir-trees, where the ground was free from 

 snow. The rest of the afternoon was spent in pitch- 

 ing camp. 



I was now once more in the home of the "maral," as 

 naturalists have named the great grey stag of Western 

 Asia. This magnificent animal is an inhabitant of 

 Persia and the mountain ranges of the Caucasus and 

 Daghistan, and is also found in certain districts of 

 Asia Minor where conditions suitable to its require- 

 ments occur, these requirements being well-watered 

 mountain ranges, thickly covered with forests of pine, 

 juniper, and in some parts beech and oak trees. I 

 have seen some magnificent pairs of horns of these 



