For example, the islands of Mitros, Lemnos, and Mytelene abound in partridges, and the shooting there is really capital.

Either by bringing a yacht from England, or by hiring one at Constantinople, the real sportsman may have great amusement while shooting, with Constantinople as headquarters.  He will find in Asia Minor deer of all descriptions, wild boars and wolves.  Then he will have capital sport with geese, ducks, woodcocks and partridges, and snipe.

Occasionally he must rough it somewhat while sleeping in villages some little distance from the sea-coast for a night or two, instead of retiring on board his floating home, and on this head I would give a word of advice to the sportsman.  Always take up your quarters in a Turkish village, if possible, in preference to a Greek village.  At the former you will find the traditional hospitality of the Oriental, even among the very poor people, practised in every sense of the word; whilst in the latter you will be exploite (there is no English word that signifies as well what I mean) to the last degree, even to the pilfering of your cartridges.

I have seen on arriving at a Turkish village every one vie with the other, and doing their very utmost to make the sportsman and his party comfortable.  I have seen ‘harems,’ such as they are, cleaned out and prepared as a sleeping apartment, all the inmates huddling together in some little corner.  I have remarked one old woman arrive with a couple of eggs, another with what was perhaps her pet fowl, to be sacrificed at the altar of hospitality—­in fact, only one idea seemed to animate them, namely, hospitality, and it is touching to see how they shrink from the proffered reward made by the sportsman on leaving these kind though poor and long-suffering people.

There are different kinds of deer to be found in Asia Minor, which strangely enough imitate the habits of the inhabitants, Greek, Turk, and Armenian, by not herding together.

First, there is the large red deer which generally inhabit the high mountains and are difficult to get, except when the winter snow drives them down into the lower grounds.  I have been fortunate enough to kill several of these splendid animals during my sojourn in Turkey.  I will give my readers an account of how I shot two of them.  One day during the winter, when the mountains were covered with snow, I received news that three deer of the largest description were in a ravine at the foot of a mountain some six hours’ distance from Ismidt.  I immediately started off in pursuit.  I must mention that all persons of high rank in Turkey have, or had at the time I write of, by their shooting firman, the right to call upon the villagers in the neighbourhood in which they are shooting to assist in driving or searching for game.  In my case it was not necessary to take advantage of such an offer; every one was on the alert for my arrival.  The people told me that that very morning they had seen the noble beasts I was after, grazing outside the wood.  So, gathering the villagers, boys carrying horns, men (much against my will) carrying guns, accompanied by every available dog, from the grand shepherd’s dog to the yapping cur of the village, off we started.