66 
iMIa-y 1 
two thousand deer and chamois have died this winter on I 
one estate by reason of the great depth of the snow. 
This prevented their being able to get their natural 
food, and rendered them inaccessible to humap aid. 
Communes, shooting clubs, large property owners in 
this country, not only protect the chamois by rigorous 
laws as to close time and hounding them, but they also 
have foresters scattered over the mountains, whose bus- 
iness it is, when the snows are deep, to have food in 
proper places in the forests for the chamois and deer to 
eat. The consequence of this is that flocks of them 
are ♦'requently seen from the streets of this city, feeding 
on the face of the mountains, whose snow covered sum- 
mits seem almost to overhang the houses. The commu- 
nal shootings, that is the shooting over lands held b> 
the communes as public property, ' are leased out. On 
reverse of the printed certificate the close time to each 
kind of game, fur and feather, is also printed. Inas- 
much as the hunter must always carry this certificate' 
with him, he carries also the law with him. There are 
many streams in the Tj’rol in -which no fish can live, 
because of the great torrent of mud in them at certain 
seasons. At these times there is so much mud in the 
water that the fish are killed by it. 
SXOW COVERED .VIOr\T.\IXS OF SOUTH 
DAGHEST.W. 
Fot the Rod and Gun. 
BY L. L. MIBABEAU EBEBLE. 
To all interested in geographical research in Central 
Asia, the name of Alexander Becker, the eminent. Rus- 
sian naturalist, will be familiar. During the j'ear 1873, 
Becker made an interesting journey into the little-known 
districts of Lesghien and Daghestan, and the following 
account of his journey is of interest, if only as showing 
the patience with which scientists follow up their in- 
vestigations of nature in spite of all obstacles and 
difficulties. 
After encountering a terrible storm on the Caspian 
sea, the traveller reached Derbend on the 20th of June. 
He made a stay of one week in the town, principally to 
collect botanical and entomological specimens from 
the “ salt lands ” lying about twenty miles south of 
Deibend. On these lands are found manj’’ small gey- 
sers, from which excellent salt is procured by crystalli- 
zation. His final destination, the highest mountains of 
southern Daghestan, he expected to reach from Kuba, 
[lying about 80 miles south of Derbend], thence he 
started on the 28th of June, at 6 o’clock in the morning, 
with post horses. The first station is situated on the 
right bank of the river Kubas; which must be forded. 
On the road to the following stations the turbulent and 
raging Samur had to be crossed. On the bank three 
Persians were in waiting, each carrying a long cane and 
having only a cloth wound around their loins. 
One of them entered the Samur, cros.'ing it in order 
to indicate the fordable places to the driver, the re- 
maining two persons sustaining the chaise on either 
side to prevent its upsetting, and Becker holding his 
baggage above his head to keep it from getting w t. 
At 5 o’clock of the same daj', he reached Kuba. This 
town is pleasantly situated along the right bank o' the 
Kubinka river, and is environed by forest -clad hills to 
the south . Its streets are well naved with stones, and 
contain numerous stores and workshops. A large plaza 
graces the principal streets. On the left bank of the 
Kubinka is a Jewish village; put into communication 
with the town by a long biidge. The snow covered 
Schach-Dagh, lying about 60 miles to the we;t, can be 
distinctly seen in clear weather. In order to reach it, 
Becker was advised to go to Russari about 20 miles 
north of Kuba. Accordingly he left Kuba on the 
morning of the2Jof July with post horses, through a 
pretty, well wooded country, and reaching Russari at 
11 o’clock. This place is situated on the left shore of 
the Russarka. After obtaining an interpreter, an Ar- 
menian, named Artour, and buying two large saddle- 
bags of Lesghien manufacture, in order to carry the nec- 
cessary provisions, paper, traps, etc., on horseback, 
they rode out of Russarka on the fifth of July at 11 
o’clock A. M., thinking to reach the Schach-Dagh before 
evening, which was, according to the information given 
by the people, only about 25 miles distant. It took 
Becker five daj's to reach it ! 
Their road led them alternately over well wooded 
hills and through beautiful green valleys to Aul, the 
first village of the Lesghiens, which they reached in 
about an hour. Here they were comjielled to tarry four 
hours, all the horses having been driven to pasture. At 
last at 4 o’clock p. m., they were enabled to proceed, 
with a Lesghien for a guide. At 5 o’clock they reached 
TTurwa [Urwa] changed horses immediately and con- 
tinued their journey through rich pastures and dense 
■woods, descending at length to the village Legser on a 
creek. This village is called Upper Legter, to distin- 
guish it from one of the same name lying far away at 
the foot of the mountains, which is called Lower Le- 
gier. As they emerged from the woods that evening, 
they perceived opposite them, on a steep hill, six large 
bears standing together. Ke.xt morning at 9 they 
reached the village of Inech-Dera [Anech]. While the 
horses were being changed, a Lesghien made Becker a 
present of several pieces of heavy metal having the ap- 
pearance of gold, which he told him was frequently 
fouud on the mountains. He considered it very valu- 
able, but it wiis only foolsgold (iron pyrites). They 
rode on, through a valley having a luxurious vegetation 
and reached Murach at 11 o’clock, Rusin at 1. This 
place is very pleasantly situated on running water, and 
surrounded by high mountains. Becker collected a 
great many botanical specimens, at which the Lesghiens 
assisted. In the village one often proceeds, as in all 
houses of the Lesghiens, from one house to the other; 
the dice-like houses being built one on the other. They 
stopped with a Lesghien who was the possessor of seve- 
ral dogs. Becker observed that these does hardlv barked 
at him, while their master was compelled to defend 
himself with cane and dagger against their furious at- 
tacks. During the rest of the journey he observed that 
though dogs would always attack the guide savagely, 
as also the interpreter, even if he was on horseback, 
they always passed Becker without molesting him. 
On the Tth of June they began ascending the moun- 
tains before them, at 7 o’clock. A thunder storm aris- 
ing it began to rain; although the rain ceased as they 
ascended, the countiy was effectually obscured b}' 
clouds. All they were able to observe was high rocks 
piled together promiscuously ; through them the crooked 
path ran, by deep chasms and along waterfalls, at last 
downward into the village of Lesac, which they reached 
at 11 o’clock. This village is surrounded by mountains, 
of which the highest, Kisulkaya, 12247 feet high, is cov- 
ered with snow. Lesac consists of only a few houses. 
They stopped in a house occupied bj' two brothers of 
extraordinary growth and reverend appearance. They 
made a fire for the travelers to warm themselves, and 
brought a palatable soup, the ingredients consisting of 
veal, rice and thyme leaves, etc. ; and accompanying it, 
butter, cheese and flat cakes baked of corn meal 
(Tchureck). As far as Kasun the interpreter was ac- 
acquainted in the villages; in Lesac he became sus- 
picious and advised vigilance. He frequently examined 
his gun, saying the people were in the habit of drawing 
the charge from them, so that if it would become neces- 
sary to defend one’s self against them, they would suffer 
no harm by it. Out of his knapsack he found half of 
his powder stolen, probably on the day preceding, but 
he only now missed it. Besides his gun, he carried a 
pistol and a dagger; (a weapon universally carried in 
this country). Becker only carried a loaded revolver, 
secreted in his coat pocket, for his defence. 
On the morning of the 8th, they left Lesac, hut were 
soon compelled to return, as the interpreter had re- 
ceived a young horse, which was unable to carry its 
rider and heavy baggage up the steep inclines, and as 
the guide did not know the road to Krys. This occas- 
ioned an angry altercation, which resulted in their 
obtaining three horses and three guides. After they 
had crossed several steep mountains, the> emerged on a 
plain, flanked on the right by high mountains, along 
the base of which extended a long line of huts ; from 
which vicious dogs emerged and attacked them. The 
barking of the dogs seemed to be answered from the 
opposite side of the mountain and some time elapsed 
before they discovered that it was onij' a very good 
echo. A shepherd played on a “pipe,” calling to him 
the scattered sheep of his flock, which immediately 
answered the call. Here the guides were unable to fur- 
ther direct them, but they made inquiries of the vil- 
lagers and at last obtained a boy for a guide. He led 
them back and upwards by a footpath, which at last 
became so steep, that they were compelled to dismount 
and lead their horses up the crooked, rocky path. This 
exercise caused them to perspire copiously, while an icy 
blast swept in their faces from the top of the mountain. 
The summit being reached, they discharged the boy and 
followed the direction indicated by him, arriving at 
Krys at about one o’clock. This village lies 6,681 feet, 
above the level of the sea. The chief of the village 
whose guests they were, left a large room at their dis- 
posal; which was, however, as little fitted for Becker’s 
botanical and entomological avocations, as all the rooms 
of the Lesghiens, on account of the total absence of 
chairs and tables. 
In the vicinitj" wheat had a very fine appearance, but 
it often fails to ripen. Among it and on the rocks, 
Becker collected a great many plants; of entomological 
specimens he collected but a few. About the mountain 
Basardjuri, the chief could give no information, as he 
had never heard the name. He said that one of the 
two mountains. Baba Dagh and Infar Dagh, which he 
pointed out to Becker, might be it. He was also unac- 
quainted with the name, Wysyry, as mentioned on the 
maps and believed it to indicate the village Sichir. 
During the night the village was wrapped in clouds. 
At 12 o’clock of the following daj' the travilers left 
Krys, with two guides. The road first led them through 
the mountains, descending suddenly into a valley where 
they noticed for the first time since entering the moun- 
tains, bushes of oaks, elder and Lonicera-, then again 
ascending to where flourished Anoplanthus biheritinii, 
and then leading downward into a long, flat valley, very 
moist and containing large fields of barley. At 4 
o’clock p. M., they reached Chinaluch, 7,165 feet above 
the level of the sea, consisting of 338 houses built on the 
side of the mountain, and making quite a picturesque 
appearance. 
[to be coxtixueb.] 
BIRDS THAT BREED BY .IIILLIOXS. 
BY AL.YSKA. 
The vast expanse of the North Pacific is an unbroken 
area of watery waste, and a billow can roll unobstructed 
from Oregon to Japan, five thousand miles; lonely and 
silentl}' the mariner steers his course here, and were it 
not for the flickering presence of a few' petrels now and 
then, flitting in and out of the wave troughs, and a half 
dozen or so tireless “ gonies” that follow as gluttons in 
the ship’s wake, he might safely call it from the testl- 
timony of his eyes, a region of utter lifelessness. But 
these few scattering birds which he sees now and then 
in this manner, day by day, when they come together 
at certain seasons of the year by some common im- 
pulse to breed, in the aggregate of millions, on some 
lone rocky island — when in obedience to the natural law 
of their perpetuation they gather in upon such favored 
spot from far and wide, their numbers do so combine 
that these breeding islands are fields of astonishing in- 
terest to the most casual observer. 
Well do we remember our first approach to St. George’s 
Island: the steamer had been going on her course from 
point of departure in a thick fog with little or no wind, 
and having run up her reckoning she “ laid to,” and 
we waited for the weather to clear, and, as the fog 
should lift, see the land: we “ hove to” about noon, and 
lazily rolled like a log on the uneasy swell of Bering 
sea, for the rest of the day, indulging under the leader- 
ship and sanction of our captain, in a good many ex- 
cesses at the expense of the weather and the dilatory 
motions consequent thereon, when all at once a bird was 
seen and greeted with applause, then another, flying 
swiftly by the vessel, and in less than twenty minutes 
after the first one was noted, the ship was literally 
blocking the airy paths of hundreds of thousands of 
“murries,” (Sonivia arra) which were flying in myriads, 
all in one direction and on a common level, just as far 
as we could peer into the fog on either side of the 
steamer. 
“ Ah! ” said the captain, smiling cheerfully for the 
first time during the last forty-eight hours of grim dis- 
gust which possessed him, “ now I know my position — 
now I know where the old tub is! those birds have 
helped me out before this and I again owe them an- 
other — we are not a mile from the land, and I’ll have 
you ashore in less than an hour! these ‘murries’ are 
coasting around the island just before going to roost— 
if the fog would onl}’ lift you would have a grand sight 
before you' ” So saying, he started up the engines and 
we were soon creeping along cautiously towards the 
anchorage. 
The fog did lift, quickly after starting, and believe 
us, we were sailing through a dark girdle, nearly a mile 
broad of birds which were flying around, in unbroken 
circuit, an island having over thirty miles of shore line! 
All the birds in this immense flying cordon, were of a 
single species, the one referred to, and who shall esti- 
mate within millions of their true numbery This is the 
