Part 1

A TRIP TO PILAWIN

A TRIP TO PILAWIN

THE DEER-PARK OF COUNT JOSEPH POTOCKI IN VOLHYNIA RUSSIA

BY R. LYDEKKER

LONDON ROWLAND WARD, LIMITED “THE JUNGLE,” 167 PICCADILLY, W. 1908

_All rights reserved_

PREFACE

When founding the Pilawin preserve in 1901 my intention was limited to the breeding of elk, which still have their native haunts not very far away to the north, but have for many years ceased to inhabit these forests. No one, to my knowledge, has hitherto attempted to naturalise these splendid deer in enclosed parks; but the fact that Pilawin forms a part of their original habitat induced me to try the experiment, which has thus far proved an unqualified success. The first big game introduced in Pilawin were thus elk; but soon after their introduction I had the opportunity when in England of visiting the famous park of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn, and the wonders there seen enlarged my ideas with regard to Pilawin. Without any thought of rivalling the marvels of Woburn, I accordingly decided to add to the Pilawin park such of the deer of North America and Asia as appeared likely to thrive in Russia. Consequently I lost no time in obtaining specimens of American and Siberian wapiti, as well as of Caucasian red deer and the Manchurian Dybowski’s deer, after which I continued to add other new inhabitants to the park as opportunity occurred. In 1905, thanks to the kind intervention of Prince Victor Kotchoubey, who is at the head of the Imperial estates, I received from H.M. the Emperor of Russia the valuable gift of three bison from the Imperial preserves of Bielowicz; while in the following year a pair of their American relations, imported by Hagenbeck, was added to the herd.

Much work still remains to be done before Pilawin is placed on such a level that will make it of real interest and importance to the study of natural history. If possible, I should like to make it the home of all such species of big game to which the climate and other local conditions prove suitable. And when established, I want them to live practically in their wild and natural state, breeding freely, and lacking any sense of confinement and limitation. I want, in fact, to see Pilawin, not a zoological garden, but a wild forest, where the noblest kinds of game may enjoy the largest possible amount of freedom, and where the sportsman may find the enjoyment of real sport and the naturalist a great field for study.

Before concluding, I may avail myself of the opportunity of tendering my best thanks to all who have so kindly assisted me in the enterprise. My first thanks are due to H.M. the Emperor; and I have next to thank the Duke of Bedford for the promise of a young American bison, which I hope will reach Pilawin during the spring. To the Princes A. S. and F. Radziwill, to Count Constantin Potocki, and to Mr. Zalenski I am indebted for elk. To Mr. Poklewski-Roziell my acknowledgments are due for Siberian roe; while I have to thank Madame Ouwaroff for the valuable gift of a couple of beavers. I have likewise the pleasure of acknowledging the valuable services of the firm of Hagenbeck of Hamburg, who carried out to my entire satisfaction all orders regarding the importation of living animals into Pilawin.

To the author of this little volume I desire to express my deepest gratitude and warmest thanks; and I am both proud and pleased that the first description of Pilawin should come from the pen of such a well-known naturalist as Mr. Lydekker.

Last, but not least, my gratitude is due to the publisher for the manner in which this account of Pilawin is presented to the world.

JOSEPH POTOCKI.

ANTONINY, _January 1908_.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE A FOREST SCENE _Frontispiece_ THE BIG LAKE IN PILAWIN 3 EUROPEAN BISON IN THE OPEN 5 THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE ANTONINY PALACE 9 BEARS KILLED BY THE COUNT 13 WAPITI STAGS TRYING FOR THE MASTERY 15 AMERICAN BISON IN THE SNOW 17 WAPITI IN THE SNOW 19 WAPITI CALLING 23 EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN BISON IN THE PILAWIN PARK 27 A TYPICAL PILAWIN SCENE 30 MAP OF PILAWIN 31 THE SHOOTING-LODGE AT PILAWIN 33 OURSELVES STARTING FROM THE SHOOTING-LODGE 35 YOUNG ELK AND WAPITI 39 WAPITI IN AUTUMN 43 WOLF KILLED NEAR ANTONINY IN 1907 46 THE PILAWIN BEAVER 47 ELK IN WINTER 51 AN ASIATIC (? SAYANSK) WAPITI 56 WAPITI STAG AND HIND 57 THE DEAD BISON 60 WAPITI STAG REPOSING 61 A BULL ELK 65 THE PEKIN OR DYBOWSKI BUCKS 67 ELK CALVES IN THE SNOW 68 THE AMERICAN BISON 70 THE EUROPEAN BISON HERD 71 AMERICAN BISON BY THE STAGE IN THE FOREST 73 WAPITI BY THE LAKE 77 A BULL ELK 79 WAPITI IN WINTER 82 ONE OF THE BEST WAPITI, WITH THE ANTLERS IN VELVET 87 A VIEW IN PILAWIN WITH ASIATIC WAPITI IN THE FOREGROUND 91 CAUCASIAN RED DEER 92 A PEKIN OR DYBOWSKI STAG 97 A BIG WAPITI 99 EUROPEAN BISON IN A FOREST RIDE 103 A GOOD WAPITI 111 A WAPITI AT GAZE 115

A Trip to Pilawin

Towards the close of the year 1906 I received an invitation from Count Joseph Potocki to pay him a visit in the following August in order to see his collection of deer at Pilawin, in the Russian province of Volhynia. After some preliminary correspondence, an invitation was also sent by Countess Potocki to my eldest daughter; and on receipt of this I finally decided to undertake the trip.

We started by the 8.35 P.M. boat-train from Victoria on Monday, August 19, and reached Warsaw in time for breakfast on the following Wednesday. Breakfast at the Hotel Bristol (where, for the first time, we tasted fresh Russian caviare) was a welcome preliminary to an inspection of Warsaw, under the guidance of the Count’s agent, who had kindly come to meet us on arrival at the station. The city can be seen easily and quickly by means of the excellent service of horse-trams, now in course of replacement by electric cars on the overhead-wire system.

Our attention was first attracted by the magnificent new Greek church, built of white bricks, with its golden cupola and lofty, detached campanile. The church faces the “Bristol,” and behind it are the beautiful public gardens, which claimed a full share of our admiration. We also visited several of the fine old Catholic churches, including the famous cathedral. The striking and lofty monument to the Polish King Sigismund, as well as the fine statue of the astronomer Copernicus, were likewise inspected and admired. Perhaps, however, the portion of the city which chiefly impressed us was the fine old market-place, with its irregular, picturesque buildings, its numerous stalls, and the people of diverse nationalities by whom it was thronged, all busy in either buying or selling.

By good luck, we also enjoyed the opportunity of seeing one of the Czar’s Tcherkess cavalry regiments marching through the city; the sable uniforms and tall black astrachan papakhas (busbies) of the troopers forming a striking contrast to the white jackets of the Cossacks, who are to be seen everywhere in the streets.

After returning to our hotel, by 3.30 P.M. we were on our way to Terespol station, the terminus of the Kieff line, which we had to leave for Schepetowka, our destination, at five o’clock. We were somewhat delayed on our way by a great crush of vehicles at the bridge over the Vistula; and owing to the crowd of passengers at the station itself, taking tickets and registering the baggage was no easy matter; but it was eventually accomplished (by the hotel porter), and we were soon comfortably established in a sleeping compartment of the train ready for the start.

Here a word may be said in commendation of the railway service in this part of the Russian Empire; that is to say, when you are once in the train. The first-class sleeping compartments are comfortable and convenient; the _cuisine_ is excellent; and the attendants are civil, attentive, and expert at interpreting the wants of those passengers to whom Russian and Polish are unknown tongues. Punctuality is, however, a virtue which on some occasions might be more cultivated.

At 5.10 A.M. on Thursday (only ten minutes behind our scheduled time) we reached Schepetowka station, where we found an open carriage, drawn by four horses abreast, in waiting; and in five minutes we were on our way to Antoniny, the country seat of the Count and Countess Potocki. Small strongly-built phaetons with varnished wood-work are used for travelling. They are built at Vienna, and can be driven either with a four-in-hand or four abreast. A four-horse team is always kept ready at each changing-station. When travelling at night a smaller vehicle goes in front with torches. For baggage a second carriage is provided.

As there had been a deluge of rain during the night, the road, which for the greater part of the way formed a mere track across the yielding black alluvial soil, was very bad going, being in places indeed little better than lakes of mud, and almost everywhere cut up into deep ruts. Despite this (and the bad state of the track, as well as the condition of several of the wooden bridges, would have well-nigh broken the heart of an English coachman), with only a single change of horses, the journey of some fifty kilometres was safely accomplished in a little over four hours; and by half-past nine, that is to say, about sixty-one hours from London, we were heartily welcomed by our kind host and hostess and their family. It should be added that a metalled road is in course of construction, which, when completed, will render the journey from Schepetowka to Antoniny much easier.

To adequately describe Antoniny would far exceed the limits at my disposal; while even if considerations of space were non-existent, it would be difficult to do justice to a domain of such magnificence. It must suffice, then, to state that the palace, which is admirably situated on rising ground, and looks on to a spacious courtyard, with the stables on the farther side, has been added to by successive owners till it has attained what may be truly termed regal proportions, while it is kept up in corresponding style and state; the owner flying his own flag when in residence, while when the Countess alone is at home her flag is substituted.

As an indication of the owner’s sporting tastes, reference may be made to a fine series of trophies of African and Indian big game displayed on portions of the walls of the hall as well as on those of the galleries and corridors above. These trophies are the results of four separate hunting trips undertaken by the Count: to India, Ceylon, Somaliland, and the Blue Nile. The Somali and Ceylon trips have been respectively described in a couple of handsome and lavishly illustrated volumes, the former of which has been translated into English. Among the trophies on which the owner sets especial store may be mentioned the heads of a beisa oryx (_Oryx beisa_) and of a dibatag or Clarke’s gazelle (_Ammodorcas clarkei_), the horns of the latter approaching “record” measurements. Personally, however, I was more interested in the skins of a Somali lion and lioness which show the abundant brown-spotting of the limbs, underparts, and flanks, characteristic of this race (_Felis leo somalica_). The lion skin, which (as is proved by the skull) belonged to an adult animal, is further remarkable for the practical absence of mane. Spotting seems peculiar (except in the case of cubs) to East African lions, and attains its maximum development in the Masai lion (_F. leo masaica_) of German East Africa.

In one of the corridors on the first floor leading from the main staircase to some of the bedrooms is displayed a fine group, consisting of a female bear and three cubs killed by Count Potocki last year in Northern Russia; while skins of three half-grown cubs shot some years ago in Lithuania ornament the floor. Bears, it may be observed, are believed to have disappeared some two centuries ago from the neighbourhood of Antoniny, although they lingered considerably longer in Pilawin. A wolf was, however, killed near the palace only last year, and a second soon after our visit, in September, close to where we changed horses.

Among the wonders of the Antoniny palace are its enormous wine-cellars, containing vast stores of rare vintages, of which the earliest is a superb Tokay of 1693; these were visited after dinner, when we were attended by a number of servants bearing lighted candles on long wooden holders.

The gardens also--now rather more than a century old--cannot be passed over without some mention, as they are almost a dream of beauty and picturesqueness. Exquisitely kept, and situated on undulating ground intersected with streams, and dotted with small lakes, these gardens, which occupy many acres, are noted not only for their gorgeous display of flowers, but likewise for their splendid timber, consisting chiefly of spruce, aspen, oak, and sycamore, many of the trees being of unusual height and symmetry, while all have been planted with a view to the general effect. The large white Roman snail (_Helix pomatia_) is abundant in the gardens, where, however, it may have been introduced, as I did not notice its presence elsewhere.

Yet one more feature of the domain remains to be noticed, namely its magnificent range of stabling, which faces the main front of the palace, and can have but few rivals, either in size or in fittings. The stables and stud are under the control of a “master of the horse.” The mention of stabling naturally suggests a few words concerning the famous Arab stud, which is kept half a mile or so away from the palace, and has no rival in Europe except in Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s well-known Arab stud in England. The greater number of Count Potocki’s Arabs have been bred on the estate; and there is indeed at the present time only a single mare imported direct from Arabia. With the bare mention that there is an equally large stud of Anglo-Arabs and thoroughbreds, as well as a pack of stag-hounds and another of harriers, the other splendours of Antoniny must be left to the imagination of the reader.

Antoniny is, to a great extent, a self-supporting colony, having a large range of outbuildings and workshops, where almost everything required on the establishment is manufactured. All other supplies have to be carted by road, either from Schepetowka or from a station on the Lemberg line, on the Austrian side.

To reach Antoniny from the railway at Schepetowka our route lay nearly due south. Pilawin, on the other hand, lies about eighty kilometres north of the railway, and we had therefore to return to Schepetowka; this journey being accomplished on the Saturday in about three and a half hours, the road being in much better condition than on the previous Thursday. Saturday night was spent in a small single-storeyed house belonging to our host at Schepetowka; and by nine o’clock on the Sunday morning we were ready to start for Pilawin.

Here a few lines may be devoted to the nature of the country between Antoniny and Schepetowka. Throughout the whole district the soil consists of black alluvial mould, apparently extending to a great depth. The contour of the country takes the form of a series of low undulating and more or less nearly parallel ridges or hills, separated by wide valleys, and running to a considerable extent at right angles to the main direction of the road. In each valley is a river or a series of ponds, near to which a village is almost invariably situated. The rich soil yields luxuriant crops of wheat, oats, maize, millet, buckwheat, hemp, and sugar-beet; the latter being a crop yielding a large revenue to the owner. Although the country as a whole is open--reminding one, were it not for the undulations, strongly of Argentina--oak-forests are to be met with here and there. From the ponds and rivers are obtained abundance of carp and pike, which afford the fish-supply to the inhabitants of the district on fast days as well as on other occasions.

At Schepetowka occurs a deposit of thin-bedded sandy limestone mixed with sand, containing numbers of marine shells of Tertiary age; this sand being employed at Antoniny and elsewhere as gravel. I collected some of these shells on the garden-paths at Antoniny, and when I returned home took them to the British Museum, where they were identified as _Trochus podolicus_, a species characteristic of the Sarmatian stage of the Miocene division of the Tertiary period.[1] As the species was unrepresented in the collection, the specimens were a welcome addition to the Museum. Later on, when visiting one of the Count’s sugar-factories at Koretz (a large town on the Kieff road near Pilawin), I was shown specimens of a white limestone containing marine fossils. At the British Museum these were identified as _Trochus podolicus_ and _Mactra podolica_; the latter species also belonging to the Sarmatian stage, and likewise unrepresented in the collection. The _Mactra_, it may be added, is a bivalve, and the _Trochus_ a spiral univalve shell.

[1] See Geikie’s _Text-Book of Geology_, 1st edition, p. 867.

Reverting to the Schepetowka district, it remains to refer to the occurrence of large erratic blocks of a grey syenitic gneiss (commonly miscalled granite) which are used for road-metal, and likewise as an ornamental building stone at Antoniny. What I take to be the same rock is found _in situ_ at Koretz, where it forms the foundation of an ancient ruined castle belonging to the Count. I was also interested in a rock containing fine blue crystals of Labrador felspar, polished balls of which are displayed at the entrance of Antoniny.

To the northward of Schepetowka the nature of the country undergoes a remarkable change, the soil becoming sandy in place of alluvial, and magnificent forests of Scotch fir replacing the cultivated ground and oak-forests on the south side of the line. In these forests, a short distance from Schepetowka, wild boars are still numerous, although the number of head is believed to have been reduced by the severity of last winter. The huge size attained by the Schepetowka boars is demonstrated by a magnificent specimen--the gift of Count Potocki--exhibited in the Natural History branch of the British Museum at South Kensington.

After continuing for about a dozen or fifteen miles, the pine-forests cease, and we are once more on open cultivated land, which continues all the way to Pilawin; the soil being, however, more sandy and lighter in colour than that of the Antoniny district.

Only one change of horses was made on this journey, and that when only about one-third the distance had been accomplished. Despite the frightful condition of the roads and torrents of rain, the second team covered the sixty odd kilometres at a long swinging trot, which was only broken for short intervals twice during the journey. The last few miles before reaching the Pilawin forests were, however, on a macadamised road--the great military road from Warsaw to Kieff. Turning off from this road to the left some few miles after leaving Koretz, the final stage to Pilawin--about seven kilometres--was almost entirely through magnificent primeval forest. At the turning we were met by an escort of twelve Don Cossacks (whose duty it is to patrol the park), who rode alongside and behind the carriage till our destination was reached at 3.30, the whole eighty kilometres from Schepetowka having thus been covered, despite the heavy rain, in six-and-a-half hours.

The forest tract to which Count Potocki has given the name of Pilawin (a title connected with the ancient family crest) comprises about seven thousand acres enclosed by an eight-foot timber paling, replaced, however, in front of the shooting-lodge by wire fencing. The area of the whole forest from which Pilawin is cut off is about thirty thousand acres.

Passing through the ponderous rustic entrance gates, cleverly constructed of birch and aspen poles, and surmounted by some fine pairs of antlers and the Potocki crest, we first came upon a spacious open enclosure containing a couple of fine bears, now about two years old, which were captured as cubs in Lithuania by a friend of the Count. In the enclosure are a couple of tall dead birch-trees, up which the bears are in the habit of climbing. They are also provided with a kind of cavern, or den, in which they spend much of their time when the weather is hot; and they likewise have a bath.

Leaving these guardians, a few yards farther on we reached the picturesque and gabled shooting-lodge which was to form our residence for the next ten days; the Count and his family being quartered at another residence, at Pisczow, some four miles distant on the farther side of the Kieff road.

This shooting-lodge--which is in telephonic communication with all the other residences of the Count--is picturesquely situated on the western side of the Pilawin preserve, and overlooks in front a wide stretch of open cornfields, bordered by dense forest of Scotch pine, oak, and birch, with a few clumps of larch; while at the back the forest comes up to within a few yards of the building itself.