Among Russian antique hunting books, there are not many publications that would enter the annals of Russian culture and would serve as a source of special pride for any serious bibliophile who collects Russian illustrated books. “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha” with drawings by Mihaly Zichy belongs to precisely such publications.
This book brings a lot of things together. A magnificent artist, excellent printing, a story about the Greatest hunt for the royal beast in places that, without fear of exaggeration, can be safely said to be hunting grounds on the entire European continent. To top it all off, the value of the publication is increased by the fact that the book was not published for sale, but was intended exclusively as a memorable gift for members of the Russian Imperial Family, members of other Dominant Houses, top officials from their retinues, as well as for Ambassadors and Envoys of various states , accredited in Russia. I would even say that this book was not so much intended to perpetuate a memorable and truly unique hunt, as to demonstrate to the world the wealth, power and potency of the Russian Empire, as well as the brilliance and valor of its worthy Monarch, who was just on the eve of the Great Reforms, which peacefully transformed a huge country and immortalized him in the memory of the people as the Tsar-Liberator. All these circumstances make this book a most interesting phenomenon of Russian culture.
Due to the fact that the book was presented to the highest circle of people, before the revolution it practically did not appear on the antique second-hand book market. This circumstance has always allowed second-hand book dealers to declare in their sales catalogs that “The Hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha” is an exceptional rarity, printed in only a few copies only for members of the Imperial Family and those who participated in the hunt. However, this was not a deliberate deception of gullible buyers by second-hand book dealers. This was their honest mistake, since second-hand booksellers did not know the original edition of the book, and the rarity of a particular antiquarian book was assessed by its occurrence. It must be said that this, at first glance, purely subjective criterion is quite accurate, but only in relation to books that have completely entered second-hand circulation. However, this book did not enter circulation before the revolution, firmly settling in private libraries, from which it was published only in exceptional cases. After the revolution the situation changed dramatically. The book began to constantly appear on sale, since in terms of its circulation (about which below) it was never a true rarity in the classical bibliophile sense.
“Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha” is dedicated to the hunt of Emperor Alexander II, which took place on October 6-7, 1860. The reader learned about how this hunt was prepared and carried out from the text of the book placed above, but I will continue my story about it myself. But first I would like to make a few comments about hunting in menageries.
In the minds of most modern Russian hunters, there is an impression that hunting in a menagerie is, at best, not hunting, and at worst, a slaughter. This belief is very strong. In fact, hunting in a menagerie differs from ordinary roundups only in that the hunter’s meeting with an animal that is by no means domesticated or tamed, as many for some reason believe, is guaranteed here. We agree, this is an important factor when organizing a hunt for the Highest Persons. Therefore, the very sensations of hunting in a menagerie, in terms of the intensity of passion, are in no way inferior to the sensations experienced by a hunter during an ordinary roundup. The quantity of game killed and the fact that it was killed in a fence is not the absolute criterion that allows one or another hunt to be classified as a slaughterhouse. The line here is much thinner and lies mainly in the aesthetic plane, i.e. is a matter of taste. Therefore, this has nothing to do with hunting passion. Just like a preference: whether to eat fried chicken or a pork chop now leads to a feeling of hunger. It's a matter of personal taste and capabilities.
The fortified stands, which we can see in one of Zichy’s drawings placed in this book, also always evoke sarcastic remarks, but this time about the personal courage of the Tsar. However, for some reason it is never taken into account that risking one’s own life is an unforgivable luxury for a head of state, especially an autocratic one. Therefore, the necessary security measures for his life are certainly justified and are not at all dictated by the cowardice of the Sovereign.
I made this digression in defense of hunting in menageries not only so that the reader would look at the hunting of Alexander II in Belovezhskaya Pushcha as just a hunt, although somewhat different from other types of hunts. I also wanted the reader to see the other side of this hunt - hunting as a cultural phenomenon. The fact is that in the life of any Highest Court, hunting in a menagerie was a secular, protocol event. Exactly the same integral attribute of high society life as, for example, golf or tennis now is. Therefore, everything here, down to the smallest details, was regulated and subject to time-honored rules and traditions. The Russian Imperial Court was no exception, whose national cultural basis was largely enriched by European tradition. This gave us the hunting culture that we call Russian. I would even say that, in general, the entire history of the Imperial Court Hunt is our main cultural heritage. And if we want to remain within the framework of the national hunting culture, then this heritage must be carefully collected, stored and studied. Therefore, considering the hunt of Alexander II in Belovezhskaya Pushcha from this point of view, one cannot help but evaluate it as an outstanding event in the history of Russian hunting, which had enormous significance for the future fate of the Pushcha.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha became part of the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine II in 1794. Let's pay tribute to the Russian Sovereigns. They were well aware of the historical and cultural significance of the Pushcha. And also the need to protect both the Pushcha itself and the relict of the European fauna - the bison. Already in 1803, by the Supreme Decree, the bison was declared a reserved animal. Its catching and shooting was allowed only with a personal Imperial permit, mainly for natural scientific purposes: to replenish zoos, menageries, parks, collections of zoological and natural history museums in Russia and Europe. And since 1820, logging was also prohibited.
Before the transition in 1888 to the Appanage Department, i.e. into the ownership of the Imperial Family in exchange for the same amount of land in the Oryol and Simbirsk provinces, Belovezhskaya Pushcha was in the Treasury Department. However, for many years the Treasury simply did not have enough strength and energy to manage the vast Russian state property. Often she had no idea at all that she was really under her control. Only during the reign of Nicholas I, when a special Ministry of State Property was created in 1838, did the long and difficult process of bringing all state property into awareness, creating an effective system of its public administration, as well as training specialists, begin. Belovezhskaya Pushcha did not go unnoticed either. In 1843-47, the first complete forest management was carried out here and the Treasury finally received a real understanding of what this unique forest in Europe actually was. At the same time, a special detailed report by the scientist forester D.Ya. Dalmatov, who served in the Pushcha, was submitted to the Ministry of State Property about its current state, historical significance and the creation of profitable forestry here. In the fall of 1847, in connection with the completion of the structure, the Minister of State Property Count P.D. Kiselev visited Pushcha for inspection purposes in order to assess on the spot the possibilities and ways of further development of the Pushchino economy. The hunt also did not go unnoticed by the Minister.
It should be noted that Emperor Nicholas I did not approve of the hobby of his son, the future Emperor Alexander II, with winter hunts for bears and moose, reasonably fearing for the safety and health of the Heir. For several years, the Tsarevich could not obtain permission from his father to participate in winter animal hunts. The decisive role in obtaining his father’s consent to these hunts was played by Count Kiselev, who enjoyed great authority and respect from Nicholas I, and guaranteed the complete safety of the Heir during the hunt in the Lisinsky Educational Forestry, subordinate to the Ministry of State Property and the Count’s favorite brainchild. With a successful elk hunt on December 21, 1844 in this forestry, which by that time had already become famous for its exemplary hunts, the countdown of winter animal hunts of Alexander II began. Apparently, it was the success of the Lisinsky hunts for bears and moose that prompted Kiselev to pay attention to the bison hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in order to subsequently be able to offer it to Alexander. Therefore, during the inspection trip of 1847, a bison hunt was organized especially for the Minister. But either due to the complexity of organizing the hunt itself, or due to the insufficient level of security for the Tsarevich, or, most likely, due to failure to receive the Emperor’s permission, the idea of organizing a hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha for the Heir was postponed. However, this very idea, apparently, never disappeared in the minds of the ministerial authorities, eventually materializing in the hunt of 1860.
The initiative to organize the hunt itself, as well as the initiative to publish a book about this hunt, belonged to Alexander Alekseevich Zeleny. At that time, Comrade (i.e. assistant - O.E.) and Major General of the retinue of His Imperial Majesty. Zelenoy was a constant companion of Alexander II on winter animal hunts. The initiative could not fail to meet full understanding on the part of the Emperor, who had already declared himself as a passionate hunter, and with whose accession the intensity and variety of imperial hunts reached an unprecedented scale. The organizational side of the matter could no longer raise doubts among the Ministry, since by 1860 Belovezhskaya Pushcha was fully organized and staffed with specialists who, over the past fifteen years, had studied the Pushcha and its capabilities quite well. The desire of the Ministry to surprise the Sovereign with a unique and inimitable hunt was spurred on by a hunt that took place in 1858, organized by Count M. Tyshkevich for Alexander II, a hunt not far from. Somewhat wounded, the Ministry of State Property rushed to organize its own hunt for the Sovereign. Moreover, the capabilities of the Ministry and the Belovezhskaya Pushcha under its control, with its main trump card - the bison, were immeasurably higher than the capabilities of some Polish Count, who so unceremoniously dared to seize the initiative to organize the first hunt of the Russian Emperor in the ancient Principality of Lithuania. Therefore, the main task set by Zeleny to his subordinates, together with the rangers of the Imperial Court Hunt assigned to them under the command of Unter-Jägermeister I.V. Ivanov, was not only to surpass the hunt organized by Count Tyshkevich, but also to surpass the hunt taken as a model in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1752 year of the Polish King Augustus III of Saxony. Let us give credit to the Ministry of State Property - it coped with the task brilliantly.
In memory of this hunt, also in imitation of Augustus III, the Greens were asked to erect a monument in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The Emperor liked the idea and a monument in the form was erected. By order of Alexander II, seven reduced gilded ones were cast from the model of this monument, which were presented to: - the organizers of the hunt: Zeleny and Count P.K. Fersen (the latter at that time was Jägermeister of the Imperial Court); and five to the German Princes who participated in the hunt.
Shortly before the hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in 1859, Alexander II invited Mihai (or, as he was called in Russia, Mikhail Alexandrovich) Zichy, a Hungarian by nationality, who had been working in Russia for more than ten years and gained the reputation of the best Russian watercolorist, for which he was awarded the title of Academician of Watercolor Painting by the Russian Academy of Arts. The main task for the artist in this position was to provide a pictorial chronicle of the life of the Supreme Court. Naturally, Zichy was invited by the Emperor to make sketches about hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Probably already at the beginning of 1861, at one of the evening hunting meetings with the Emperor, which were usually attended by all the Emperor’s constant hunting companions, Zichy presented a series of sheets dedicated to hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Then, apparently, the idea of a book arose in Zeleny.
With the beginning of regular hunts of Alexander II in the Lisinsky Educational Forestry, Count Kiselev ordered the creation of a special book in the latter, where each hunt carried out in the forestry in the Highest Presence could be recorded, and also so that a short report on it could be presented to him personally. This tradition in the Ministry was preserved under the next Minister. Similar reports were submitted to the Minister in the event of the Sovereign’s hunts on other state estates.
Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was no exception. The idea of combining the ministerial report with Zichy's watercolors and publishing it in printed form as a souvenir of the hunt was brilliant. To which Elena, apparently, immediately received the Highest approval.
In the collections of the Ministry of State Property of the Russian State Historical Archive, I was unable to find any traces of the matter related to the publication of this book. And it certainly should have been. The only thing I found was a case with the following title: . Unfortunately, with the exception of a few pages, this matter has nothing to do with hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the publication of the book. Only two pages are of particular interest - sheets 123 and 124. The first of them will be discussed further below. And sheet 124 is a list of cases compiled at the beginning of November 1860 that are transferred from the General Office of the Minister to. In this list, under No. 9, it appears: “The case of the HIGHEST hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on October 6 and 7, 1860. 48 ll." Against it there is a mark in pencil: “will be handed over separately.” So, that was it. But it was not transferred to the Forestry Department from the General Office of the Minister in November 1860. With a fairly high degree of confidence, we can assume that later it was this file that should have included all the documents on the publication of the book “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha,” including its draft text. These documents, despite all the imperfections of the then departmental archival business, the absence of any clear understanding of what kind of files are subject to eternal storage, should not have been destroyed, since they contained materials that told about one of the brightest episodes in history department, moreover, associated with the Highest Name. And the fact that the file nevertheless turned out to be lost may mean that either it did not end up in the archives of the Ministry at all, remaining in the hands of Zeleny or the official who prepared its text; or, what is more likely, it was inadvertently included in other cases of the Office of the Minister under a general cover, on which, due to bureaucratic forgetfulness, its name was not included separately. And the fate of such cases was sad.
Due to the chronic lack of free space, departmental archives were periodically cleared of deposits of unnecessary files. Moreover, the necessity or uselessness of this or that matter was determined only by the current interests of the department. There was no way to review all the files that were accumulating with enormous speed using only archival officials to determine whether a given file was subject to destruction or not, not to mention genuine archaeographic research. Therefore, when selecting cases to be destroyed, they were guided only by the name, without looking.
That this case has been lost for a long time is confirmed by the fact that the author of a huge work dedicated to G.P. Kartsov, who worked while collecting materials for his work in the archives of the Ministry of State Property, reported about the hunt of Alexander II in fact only what had already been published in the book “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, the text of which he reproduced in its entirety in his work. This means that already at the end of the 19th century, no materials about this hunt, as well as about the publication of a book about it, were preserved in the archives of the Ministry. Moreover, Kartsov even indicated the wrong year of publication of the book - . By the way, this year usually appears in all bibliographic data about this year.
About the author, Kartsov only said that he was apparently not a hunter, and that the historical essay about Pushcha in this book was taken last from a report submitted to the Ministry by Dalmatov. Based on this remark of Kartsov, who saw Dalmatov’s report, which has not been preserved to date in the collections of the Ministry of State Property, we can assume that the author, unknown to us, apparently an official of the Ministry (more on which below), expanded the usual report on the hunt for the Minister, reworking and adding to it the material available at the Ministry on the history of hunting in the Pushcha. Thus, the text of the book was born.
The Ministry of State Property placed an order for printing the book at the printing house of the Academy of Sciences. The choice of this printing house was not accidental. And the point here was not even that it was completely natural for the state department to place its order in the state printing house. In this case, the Ministry could make do with its own departmental printing house. But the fact was that the oldest academic printing house in Russia was one of the best, it had the richest corpus of fonts, which made it possible to publish a book in any language in the world and with the most elaborate formulas and tables; had on its staff highly qualified specialists capable of fulfilling the most complex orders, which, in fact, were all the orders of the Academy of Sciences. And although this particular order was not particularly difficult technically for an academic printing house, it was nevertheless completed at the highest level.
Considering “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, one cannot help but note, first of all, the highest artistic level of the publication. The book is not overloaded with illustrations or text. Everything in it is harmonious: format, volume, font and placement of text on the sheet; illustrations, their selection and placement in the book - the hand of the book’s extraordinary graphic artist is felt in everything. But, most likely, the layout of the publication was completely developed by Zichi himself, who already had practical experience in illustrating and designing books. This class of artistic publication no longer exists in Russian hunting literature. Kutepov’s cult four-volume work in terms of artistic culture, and not in terms of the richness of the publication, does not even come close to the level of “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, in which, along with the high artistic level, what is also striking is the simple means by which this is achieved. It is indeed true that genuine aristocracy is always distinguished by good quality, grace and simplicity. The book is printed on ordinary thick, well-bleached paper, although of high quality, but not one of the expensive varieties in use at that time. It is typed in an inexpensive font of the simplest style, the so-called . The font is beautiful precisely because of its simplicity, and is also easy to read. Thus, the high printing culture of the academic printing house, multiplied by the highest class of its specialists and the talent of an outstanding artist, created this masterpiece. In my opinion, in terms of collection value, only tray copies of hunting publications of the 18th century can be put on par with “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”.
Green’s choice of the academic printing house as the executor of the ministerial order turned out to be not only successful, but also very far-sighted. Although the Minister's Comrade did not even suspect about the latter. The fact is that the Russian Academy of Sciences, as befits a truly scientific institution, treated its archival collection with great care. Thanks to this, the archive of the printing house of the Academy of Sciences has reached us in its entirety from the time of its founding, i.e. since Peter's times. If it weren’t for Zeleny’s unexpected insight, we would still be talking about the output of “The Hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha” only in the subjunctive mood. And so, in the “Book of Accounts for Printing Publications of Third-Party Institutions” for 1862 we find a comprehensive one.
Here we read that “Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha” began printing in the printing house in January 1862 and was completed in August 1862. Thus, 1862 should be considered the year of its publication. Consequently, the order for its printing was received by the printing house, most likely, in the second half of 1861. The book was printed in 210 copies in Russian and 60 in French. The total cost: for material, typing, printing and additions for incidental expenses was only 373 rubles. To this, however, it would be necessary to add the Ministry’s expenses for printing lithographs (5 color and 4 black and white), executed by the lithoprinting house “R. Gundrizer and Co., for which we do not have exact data. But such a number of high-quality lithographs should have increased the cost of the book by at least 2-3 times. The artist's salary was not included in the cost of the publication, because Zichi received a salary ex officio from the Ministry of the Imperial Household and the work was carried out by him as part of, let’s say, an official assignment. Thus, we can assume that on average one copy of the book cost the Ministry from 2.5 to 4 rubles. For a publication of this class it was very, very inexpensive.
Zelenoy could be pleased with such a magnificent and quick implementation of his idea. The book became an excellent gift for the Ministry to the right people. This is evidenced by the following fact. On the copy located in the Library of the Academy of Sciences, in the upper right corner of the flyleaf there is a very remarkable entry: “Received this October 1. 1878 (Due to official request)." For 16 years, the Academy of Sciences could not obtain from the Ministry of State Property a copy of the book for its library, not just what was rightfully due to it, but also printed in its own printing house!
A few words need to be said about the format of the publication. The book is the size of a quarter of a sheet, the so-called . This format was usually used when it was necessary to emphasize the importance of the publication. He gave the book a certain solidity and solemnity. The form, in this case, matched the content perfectly, setting the reader up to perceive the described hunt as an outstanding event. And indeed it is. I’m not afraid to repeat myself, and I’ll emphasize once again that the hunt of Alexander II in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was an outstanding event in the history of Russian hunting.
Who is the author of the text of the book? There is no doubt that it could only be one of the Ministry officials. In one of the cases I discovered a very interesting fact. To one of the memos to the Minister of the Imperial Court from Zichy, the latter included a list of his painting works. And here at number 72 we can read: . In the Address-Calendar of the Russian Empire for 1859-60, there are not many Monsieur Fuchses listed. And one of them is ours. Consisting of the Ministry of State Property, Collegiate Assessor, Viktor Yakovlevich Fuks. And here I will return to sheet 123, which I already mentioned above. It represents a statement from the Forestry Department dated November 23, 1860. “To Mr. Official of Special Assignments at the Department of Agriculture, Collegiate Assessor Fuchs. The Forestry Department has the honor to notify Your Eminence that the papers listed in the attached document No. 12 of November 10, 1860, except for the case of the HIGHEST hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on October 7, 1860, have been received by this Department.” And this directly indicates that it was Fuchs who oversaw this matter at the Ministry. Consequently, it indirectly confirms that this is the Fuchs to whom Zichy ascribes the text.
In conclusion of my essay about this wonderful book, I cannot resist telling readers an interesting episode related to one of Zichi’s watercolors, which served as an illustration for the book.
The watercolor “Local population and hunting participants await the arrival of Emperor Alexander II in Belovezh” was in the collection of the Lisinsky Imperial Hunting Palace until 1904. Along with her, there were three more watercolors by Zichya in the palace, but they directly depicted scenes of winter hunts in the Lisinsky forestry. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to establish exactly when and under what circumstances these Zichy watercolors came to the Lisinsky Palace. The only thing that is certain is that this happened during the life of Alexander II and on his direct orders. Neither Alexander III nor Nicholas II liked Lisino. And under them, the palace was not replenished with a single work of art.
In August 1903, while at maneuvers near Pskov, Emperor Nicholas II suddenly remembered (!?) that at some postal station - either in Lisino, or in Yashcher, where he once was on a winter bear hunt, he saw Zichy's watercolors. The Emperor ordered them to be found and presented to him for viewing in the Winter Palace. The highest order was carried out and in mid-September the watercolors from the Lisinsky Palace were delivered to the Winter Palace. In the accompanying note, the Head of the Territorial Administration of the Ministry of State Property wrote: “I have the honor to forward four watercolors by the artist Zichy, located in the Lisinsky hunting palace, and add that there is no postal station in Lisin, but at the Lisino station there are Zichy watercolors. It is wonderfully said: “and add.” The twist here is that there has been no postal station in Lizard for a long time. Back in 1866, the latter was converted into the Imperial Hunting House. But for the Lisinsk patriots it remained “a second class postal station with a hotel for travelers,” i.e., an inn and nothing more. And there was a lot of truth in this.
It is not difficult to understand the poorly hidden frustration of departmental authorities. The magnificent hunting palace, a unique monument of Russian hunting culture, which has no equal in class on the territory of Russia, was built and maintained with funds from the forest income of the Ministry of State Property, i.e. with people's money. But in addition to the palace, the Ministry also maintained a special hunting staff of the forestry with all the property, right down to the royal hunting sleigh and horse. The latter, for example, was kept only for hunting and was not used for any other work in the forestry. Bear, elk, wood grouse were intended exclusively for hunting by the Sovereign and the Grand Dukes. Since the time of Alexander II, an effective system for organizing the protection of hunting grounds has been developed in the Lisinsky forestry. And the latter, without any exaggeration, were rich. The hunting staff of the forestry, headed by the Ober-Jäger, were professionals of the highest class. And this whole mechanism, established by the Ministry over many years, was running idle after the death of Alexander II. Alexander III, having become Emperor, never visited Lisino again. Nicholas II visited here only once in his entire life - in 1892. It was possible to understand Alexander III, who during winter trips to bear and elk hunts preferred not the Lisinsky Palace, but the unprepossessing Lizard House. After all, the Emperor, even in his beloved residence in the Gatchina Palace, for his residence, chose the most unprepossessing small, dimly lit rooms on the mezzanine floor, intended for servants. Tastes could not be discussed. But the fact that Nicholas II confused the palace with the station could only mean one thing for the Ministry: “Sic transit gloria mundi.” Lisino's star, which shone so brightly under Alexander II, finally set. And as it turned out - forever.
For more than two months, watercolors from the Lisinsky Palace were in the Winter Palace. But the Emperor never found time to examine them. On November 30, the Minister of the Imperial Court once again reminded the Emperor about them. But this time Nicholas II did not have time. And the report was followed by a resolution: “It is the highest order that Zichy’s watercolors be returned and stored in their original places in.” But before the ink had even dried and the watercolors had gone home, another order followed: to present the watercolors for review to the Emperor “in view of the special interest that watercolors represent.” On December 12, the Emperor finally got around to examining them. The result of the show was that in February 1904 only 3 watercolors were returned to the Lisinsky Palace. A watercolor with a Belovezhskaya plot, according to the Highest order, was sent to.
Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (October 6-7, 1860)- an unofficial meeting of the heads of some European states, organized on the initiative of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, and which served as a pretext for the gradual emergence of the Russian Empire from the isolation in which it found itself after the Crimean War of 1853-1856. and completed it.
Event description
Hunting trips took place on October 6 and 7. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Princes Charles and Albert of Prussia, Augustus of Württemberg, Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, as well as a large retinue went hunting with Alexander II.
In 1803, Belovezhskaya Pushcha received the status of a royal reserve.
About a hundred animals became trophies of the hunt: bison, wild boar, elk, chamois, foxes.
Political background of the event
The main goal of this hunt was the gradual weakening, and, ultimately, the emergence of Russia from the isolation in which it found itself after the Crimean War of 1853-1856. and the Paris Congress of 1856 that completed it.
This is precisely what the most important steps of Russian diplomacy were aimed at with the coming to power of Emperor Alexander II and the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Prince Gorchakov. In his famous circular, Prince Gorchakov wrote “Russia is concentrating.” Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was one of those “concentrations” of Russia.
The hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was successful in relation to Russian foreign policy, as can be seen from the so-called “Warsaw Rendezvous” that followed it in October 1860, in Warsaw, when Russia began to regain its lost influence and prestige in Europe.
Memory of an event
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Excerpt characterizing Hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (1860)
- But what, Count, is Klyucharyov’s fault? – asked Pierre.“It’s my business to know and not yours to ask me,” cried Rostopchin.
“If he is accused of distributing Napoleon’s proclamations, then this has not been proven,” said Pierre (without looking at Rastopchin), “and Vereshchagin...”
“Nous y voila, [It is so,”] - suddenly frowning, interrupting Pierre, Rostopchin cried out even louder than before. “Vereshchagin is a traitor and a traitor who will receive a well-deserved execution,” said Rostopchin with that fervor of anger with which people speak when remembering an insult. - But I did not call you in order to discuss my affairs, but in order to give you advice or orders, if you want it. I ask you to stop relations with gentlemen like Klyucharyov and get out of here. And I'll beat the crap out of whoever it is. - And, probably realizing that he seemed to be shouting at Bezukhov, who had not yet been guilty of anything, he added, taking Pierre by the hand in a friendly manner: - Nous sommes a la veille d "un desastre publique, et je n"ai pas le temps de dire des gentillesses a tous ceux qui ont affaire a moi. My head is spinning sometimes! Eh! bien, mon cher, qu"est ce que vous faites, vous personnellement? [We are on the eve of a general disaster, and I have no time to be polite to everyone with whom I have business. So, my dear, what are you doing, you personally?]
“Mais rien, [Yes, nothing,” answered Pierre, still without raising his eyes and without changing the expression of his thoughtful face.
The Count frowned.
- Un conseil d"ami, mon cher. Decampez et au plutot, c"est tout ce que je vous dis. A bon entendeur salut! Goodbye, my dear. “Oh, yes,” he shouted to him from the door, “is it true that the countess fell into the clutches of des saints peres de la Societe de Jesus?” [Friendly advice. Get out quickly, that's what I tell you. Blessed is he who knows how to obey!.. the holy fathers of the Society of Jesus?]
Pierre did not answer anything and, frowning and angry as he had never been seen, left Rostopchin.
When he arrived home, it was already getting dark. About eight different people visited him that evening. Secretary of the committee, colonel of his battalion, manager, butler and various petitioners. Everyone had matters before Pierre that he had to resolve. Pierre did not understand anything, was not interested in these matters and gave only answers to all questions that would free him from these people. Finally, left alone, he printed out and read his wife’s letter.
“They are soldiers at the battery, Prince Andrey has been killed... an old man... Simplicity is submission to God. You have to suffer... the meaning of everything... you have to put it together... your wife is getting married... You have to forget and understand...” And he, going to the bed, fell on it without undressing and immediately fell asleep.
When he woke up the next morning, the butler came to report that a police official had come from Count Rastopchin on purpose to find out whether Count Bezukhov had left or was leaving.
About ten different people who had business with Pierre were waiting for him in the living room. Pierre hastily dressed, and, instead of going to those who were waiting for him, he went to the back porch and from there went out through the gate.
From then until the end of the Moscow devastation, none of the Bezukhovs’ household, despite all the searches, saw Pierre again and did not know where he was.
The Rostovs remained in the city until September 1, that is, until the eve of the enemy’s entry into Moscow.
After Petya joined Obolensky’s Cossack regiment and his departure to Belaya Tserkov, where this regiment was being formed, fear came over the countess. The thought that both of her sons are at war, that both of them have left under her wing, that today or tomorrow each of them, and maybe both together, like the three sons of one of her friends, could be killed, for the first time just now, this summer, it came to her mind with cruel clarity. She tried to get Nikolai to come to her, she wanted to go to Petya herself, to place him somewhere in St. Petersburg, but both of them turned out to be impossible. Petya could not be returned except with the regiment or through transfer to another active regiment. Nicholas was somewhere in the army and after his last letter, in which he described in detail his meeting with Princess Marya, he did not give any news about himself. The Countess did not sleep at night and, when she fell asleep, she saw her murdered sons in her dreams. After much advice and negotiations, the count finally came up with a means to calm the countess. He transferred Petya from Obolensky’s regiment to Bezukhov’s regiment, which was being formed near Moscow. Although Petya remained in military service, with this transfer the countess had the consolation of seeing at least one son under her wing and hoped to arrange for her Petya in such a way that she would no longer let him out and would always enroll him in such places of service where he could not possibly end up into battle. While only Nicolas was in danger, it seemed to the countess (and she even repented of it) that she loved the eldest more than all the other children; but when the youngest, the naughty one, who was a bad student, who broke everything in the house and who was boring everyone, Petya, this snub-nosed Petya, with his cheerful black eyes, a fresh blush and a little fluff on his cheeks, ended up there, with these big, scary, cruel men who they fight something there and find something joyful in it - then it seemed to the mother that she loved him more, much more than all her children. The closer the time approached when the expected Petya was supposed to return to Moscow, the more the countess’s anxiety increased. She already thought that she would never see this happiness. The presence of not only Sonya, but also her beloved Natasha, even her husband, irritated the countess. “What do I care about them, I don’t need anyone except Petya!” - she thought.
As is known, Russian Emperor Nicholas II, now canonized, did not like workers, but loved to hunt in the protected areas of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Not only did he hunt himself, but he also taught his young children to hunt. There is enough historical evidence of this.
So Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna enthusiastically announced her participation in the real hunt on September 21, 1912. “My dear Aunt Ksenia... -: It was terribly fun in Belovezh. Olga and I went hunting with Papa. Marie was with Anastasia only twice. I stood in Papa’s room twice, once with Prince Golitsyn, once with Prince . Beloselsky and once at Drenteln it was terribly good."
In modern Belovezhskaya Pushcha on the territory of Belarus, in the Museum of Nature, an entire hall is dedicated to the royal hunt.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha became the property of the royal family in 1888 in exchange for lands in the Oryol and Simbirsk provinces. After the completion of the construction of the Belovezhsky Imperial Palace, Alexander III, Nicholas II, and the Grand Dukes hunted in the Pushcha. The palace has not survived to this day; it burned down during the liberation in 1944, and the richest collections were stolen by local residents. In the post-war period, the ruins of the palace were blown up, burned down, or other buildings were destroyed. So all that was left was the entrance gate and this model in the Museum of Nature
Before the Russian tsars, Belovezhskaya Pushcha was a favorite hunting spot for Polish magnates.
By the beginning of the 15th century, wild bulls were still found in the Pushcha - aurochs, which were completely exterminated at the beginning of the 17th century
At the end of the 19th century, hunting in Pushcha truly took on a royal scale. Numerous trophies of that time have been preserved in various museums around the world, including Darwin. What is placed on the walls of the Museum of Nature is most likely modern products.
The most solemn event of the royal hunt was the drift (or drift). This is when the trophies obtained during the day were taken to one place and placed in a certain order. In the first row, game hunted by the Sovereign Emperor was placed according to type, then other participants. The carcasses were decorated with garlands of oak branches. The hunting team lined up for the trophies. Along the edges stood palace workers in red shirts with torches in their hands. The carcasses were counted and weighed, after which a grand dinner was held...
The number of trophies of large animals reached tens of units. Mention is made of hunting waterfowl and upland game, when Nicholas II’s personal count of quails and pheasants often exceeded a hundred. In passing, the emperor did not hesitate to shoot crows, seagulls and cats. At least three shot cats are recorded in his diaries. True, Romanov’s defenders insist that these were wild cats. But then we need to look at where they ended, in Pushcha or in St. Petersburg. I am more inclined to the second version.
According to various sources, Nicholas II visited Belovezhskaya Pushcha at least six times
A few more photos from Tyrnety
Alexander III hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in August 1894
And this, if there are no mistakes, is already the era of Nicholas II 
After Nicholas II, Soviet General Secretaries and their guests hunted in Pushcha, Hermann Goering during the occupation, and I will tell you about modern hunting
Turning off the highway, the navigator gets confused and cannot understand where we are. But the sign is already visible - we are heading to the village of White Forest. It's right next to the border. Boundaries between the human world and the animal world. Well, also Polish, of course. This is not the Belovezhka that is described in guidebooks. The White Forest is the gateway to the Wild Forest, to the real Pushcha, to the jungle itself. So the hedgehog blithely runs across our path - this is his home. It is also home to four hundred bison - the oldest inhabitants and rulers of these places. We came to hunt for them. Telephoto lenses, of course. Although regular hunting for them is officially permitted, and I also want to talk about this.
Sasha met us on a motorcycle at the entrance to the village. He lives in the forestry district, where a large guest house has been built for everyone who wants to visit the protected Forest. There we settled, occupying an entire floor of an empty hotel.
Alexander is not just a local resident. He was born in the very heart of the Pushcha, in one of the farms that still exist on its Territory. The forester and the forester's son: he, like no one else, feels it, knows all its secrets, lives according to its rhythms. Sasha loves to remember his childhood, when right in front of the windows of his house, stag deer fought in a fierce battle. And that’s probably why, having graduated from the forestry department of the Belarusian “Polytechnic”, he continued the family tradition. But not for long - Sasha’s patience lasted only a couple of years. A game guide in Belarus is more like a servant who organizes hunts for wealthy gentlemen from Russia, the Middle East and Europe: she leads them through the forest, shows them the animals, their caches, and sets the table.
Having disagreed with the management, Sasha left and is now doing his favorite thing - setting video traps and filming material for European animal protection organizations, meeting European scientists, helping them in researching the animal world of the Pushcha. Sasha is an excellent animal photographer. And there is also something in it from Stalker from Tarkovsky’s film of the same name.
Entering the Pushcha with your own car is strictly prohibited. Moreover, Bely Lesok is located on the border territory, to enter which, according to Belarusian laws, it is necessary to obtain permission and pay a fee. If you are going to those parts, then carefully study this topic. The hour is uneven - you’ll end up at the police station with a fine, and your car can easily be towed if you leave it where it’s not allowed. You can enter the Pushcha in this place only with Sasha and in Sasha’s car. Despite the fact that Alexander has not worked in the forestry for a long time, they do not have the right to prohibit him from entering the forest, since he was born there. And such attempts sometimes happen - at his previous job they can’t forgive him for his bold “leaving the system.”
Early morning and evening before sunset are the best times for photo hunting. During the day, the animal lies in the cool forest and hides from two-legged enemies. In the evening, when the heat subsides (or in the morning, before the heat), bison and deer begin to emerge from the thickets into the meadows. Therefore, our first departure took place that same evening, on the day of arrival. We wrapped ourselves up to the head against ticks, prepared telephoto lenses with teleconverters: there is simply nothing to do with less than 400mm, the frightened animal will not let you get within 100 meters.
The roads of Belovezhka are the first thing that causes slight surprise. The entire Pushcha is riddled with hundreds of kilometers of perfect asphalt, one and a half lanes long. But these roads can only be used by those who live in the villages of the Pushcha and forestry workers. Oh, yes, and Old Man of course :) Remember where the USSR ended and the CIS began? Yes, precisely in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in the Viskuli hunting estate, where the super-protected residence of the President of Belarus is now located.
The access to it is closed one and a half kilometers before the gate, and the perimeter itself was equipped with new security systems after the events in Ukraine. A kilometer from the turn to Viskuli, guarded by two bison, there is a helipad in the middle of the forest.
On the first outing they found no one. The field was empty, there was no animal on it. At the second point we were a little more lucky. From a distance we noticed a small herd of bison, to which we had to walk about a kilometer through tall grass. This grass is the home of the native Belovezhskaya ticks, which we carried on us, 15 of them at a time. On clothes, thank God. After each such outing there was an immediate procedure for self-examination and quarantine of clothing.
A few minutes later the first success came - Sasha, with his keen eye, noticed the head of a roe deer.
The head of the roe deer noticed us in response and set off running towards the forest. This time she was lucky - from May 15 to September 30, individual hunting is allowed for her. As a trophy, you will be allowed to take a skull with horns, for which you will need to pay from 300 to 1000 euros. Just to injure an animal costs 300 euros.
When approaching the herd, we turn on complete silence mode. Now you can’t talk, you can’t step on dry branches, you need to walk quickly, along the edge of the forest. There is a small river between us and the herd, because of which we can no longer get closer than 300 meters.
The bison has a very sensitive sense of smell, almost like a dog. They already know that we are here, but they don’t show it yet - it’s too far away. We stop under a tree by the river and take pictures. Then the whole herd lay down in the grass and decided to end this place.
Pushcha is unpredictable and knows how to present surprises. You can spend the whole day unsuccessfully running through the thickets in search of bison and accidentally meet one along the road while returning home. This happened to us too. The old bison patriarch stood at the very curb and looked at us with interest.
We didn't even have to get out of the car to take a photo of it!
At some point, the bison decided to move to a safe distance...
And relieve yourself just in case. Although, it seems to me, by this he simply showed his contempt for the human race.
The sun began to set, lengthening the shadows of objects and filling the trees with a soft, velvety light. It's time to find the herd and try to photograph it in backlight. And again we were lucky - Sasha again saw the herd, to which we had to run, making our way through thickets of bushes and climbing over fallen trees. But we made it in time and caught our luck by the tip of its tail!
Here it is, the ecstasy of a photo hunter! The ecstasy did not last long - heated up by the cross-country and excitement, we behaved too noisily, which the bison could not help but notice. They ran into the forest.
The program of the first day was completely fulfilled and even exceeded. I’ll tell you about the morning outing in another part, and in this one I’ll continue about the bison. There is so much I want to tell about them, but I can’t figure out where to start.
The Belovezhsky bison is the last representative of wild bulls in Europe. The bison is the largest land mammal in Europe (weight up to 1.2 tons). The closest relative of the bison is the American bison, with which it is able to interbreed without restrictions, producing fertile offspring - bison. In the 20s of the last century, the bison was endangered. All of today's bison descend from just twelve individuals that were kept in zoos and nature reserves at the beginning of the 20th century.
According to the management of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, at the moment there are about 450 bison in the Pushcha, while their optimal number for the reserve is 250-300 individuals.
Today, the bison is far from being on the verge of extinction. However, one threat has given way to another - when creating small populations of bison, they are threatened by inbreeding and genetic degeneration. The only way out is to resettle the bison over a large area, including the forests of Russia.
In the meantime, Belarus is fighting the “overpopulation” of forests with bison with the help of hunting licenses. Killing a bison costs from 3,000 to 25,000 euros, depending on gender, age and other characteristics. By law, it is allowed to shoot animals from the so-called reserve gene pool: females over 18 years old and males over 14 years old, young males expelled from herds and not returned within three months, as well as sick or injured animals.
Now tell me, how do you determine in the optical sight of a rifle, “xy from xy” in this herd, for example? Which of them is sick or how old are they? That's why they shoot at everything, indiscriminately. The question is the price.
On the last evening I decided to play a game with the bison: how close I could get to them. We were separated only by a field of short grass, along which I walked and stopped, putting the camera on a tripod. The bison noticed me a long time ago and watched me intently.
Simply amazingly large animals!
At the same time, they are so intimidated by a person that they pose absolutely no threat to him. A simple village bull is a hundred times more dangerous than a bison.
The game ended at the standard 100 meters, when the entire herd, as if on command, began to move. After running another 100, they stopped. I didn't pursue them anymore.
In the next part I will tell you about other interesting animals of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Other posts from the trip to Belovezhskaya Pushcha:
79 On October 10, 1856, Jägermeister Count Fersen reported to the Minister of the Imperial Household: “On the occasion of the Imperial hunt being sent to Moscow during the coronation, I, wanting to present it in the proper form corresponding to its purpose, was forced to make orders for the acquisition of a certain number of horses and dogs But in order to be able to provide His Majesty with pleasant and varied hunts in the future, and to successfully fulfill other duties assigned to her, such as the destruction of wolves and other predatory animals and birds, monitoring private hunters, etc., it is necessary to do what is now existing. To add to its total staff: 13 riding horses, 22 lifting horses, 30 greyhounds, 60 hounds. All the dogs shown are now available, but in addition to the number of horses, only 3 riding and 22 lifting horses have to be purchased.
“With this increase in horses and dogs, it is also necessary to strengthen the team of people, according to the following distribution: 10 huntsmen, 10 huntsman apprentices, 17 tenets, 9 stirrups, 4 lashers, 4 grooms, 1 barber. In addition, one veterinarian, who the state is not entitled to it at all.
"The need to strengthen the team with servants ... 1828; summer frock coats with breeches and leggings, built 1828; huntsman jackets with trousers, built 1828; work dress; summer frock coats without breeches with leggings, built 1828; short fur coats jackets made of camel wool; coachman's sashes, light gray, woolen, and under the skirts, wolf fur; jackets with dark gray cloth; sashes, blue; white frock coats cloth on wolf fur" (Arch. Control Imp. oh., N0 1 6/726).
P addition. Among the institutions that were close to the department of Imperial hunts during the described era, it should be noted the Lisinsky educational forestry and Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Although these institutions were completely independent of the Jägermeister Department, in the lands that belonged to them, hunts were carried out in the highest presence, organized through the joint efforts of the local administration and the Office of Imperial Hunts.
In particular, great hunts were often carried out in the lands of the Lisinsky educational forestry, and the hunting part of the forestry was organized on a completely rational basis.
As for Belovezhskaya Pushcha, taking into account its special significance and special character, as well as the fact that in the early sixties of the current century, grandiose high-ranking hunts were organized there, for which the court hunt was sent from Gatchina to Belovezh, hunts, descriptions of which are given in In its place, we consider it very useful to preface these descriptions with a few words concerning the state of Belovezhskaya Pushcha mainly by the middle of the 19th century, borrowing this information from the work “Belovezhskaya Hunt”, published in 1861.
B Elovezhskaya State Pushcha, with an area of 112,080 dessiatines, or 1076 square versts, is located in the Pruzhany district of the Grodno province.
In the past, Byelovezhskaya Pushcha belonged to the royal forests and, due to the variety of game found in it, was a favorite hunting spot for the Polish kings. It was managed by royal officials under the main command of the intendant general of the royal property and under the close supervision of the local forester, who was assigned to live in a palace that existed in the village of Belovezh. His duty consisted solely of supervising the hunting arsenal and managing matters related to hunting.
We do not consider it necessary to provide information regarding the organization of the Belovezhskaya hunt during the period when Pushcha was among the property of the Polish crown: this information does not relate to our task.
Upon the annexation of Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the possessions of the Russian Empire, during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great, the lands that made up this Pushcha were distributed to: Count Rumyantsev, Count Fersen, Count Sivers, Kutuzov and Drenyakin.
And Emperor Alexander I, wanting to preserve the bison breed found in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, made it a reserve in 1803, and from that time on, hunting for these animals began to be permitted each time only by special highest order.
In 1820, cutting down forest growing in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was completely prohibited.
In the period from 1843 to 1847, a survey and taxation of the Pushcha was carried out, which at the same time was divided into 541 two-verst quarters.
Around the same time, five separate forest districts were organized in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
In the middle of the current century, within the boundaries of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in the villages, there lived sedge farmers, numbering 298 souls, whose main duty was to prepare hay for the bison for the winter.
At that time, in the Pushcha there were: bison, elk (of which there were more and more menyn and menyn from year to year, and he came to the Pushcha more in winter, hiding for the summer in the swamps of Slonim and Kobrin districts), roe deer, wild boar, hare, hare , wolf, fox, marten, weasel, bear and badger. In the first half of the century, beavers lived here on the Lesna, Narevka, Belaya and Gvozna rivers, even before which the former inhabitants of the forest disappeared: red deer, fallow deer and wild cats. Among the birds in the Pushcha there were wood grouse, black grouse, rake, hazel grouse, snipe, cranes, herons, etc.
The Zubrs lived in herds of 10, 20, 40 and 60 pieces. At the head of the herd there is always a leader, an old bison or a bison; completely elderly animals wander alone or in twos together, and then they are no longer afraid of a person and, when they meet, threaten to attack him, especially when they are irritated or accidentally frightened. The bison detects the first movement of anger by shaking its head; then he digs the ground with his foot and licks his lips, occasionally waving his tail. If an old bison, or, as it is called, one, warmed by the sun, settles down on the road, then sometimes no threats will force it to yield to the passer-by. Horses are always afraid of bison. On the contrary, a herd of bison, seeing a man, runs away from him into the dense thicket of the forest, and the crackling of the young forest he breaks is heard for a long time and far away.
In the summer, from the heat and annoying insects, bison take refuge either in the deepest thickets of the forest, where, to refresh themselves, they sometimes plunge into swamps and rivers, swimming across them deftly and without fear, or go out into the forests, where, tearing up the sand with their feet, they cover each other with it and lie like horses on their backs. In many forested areas of the forest, especially near rivers and where the black forest turns into forest, you can see shallow pits dug by bison, which are locally called “kupala”.
Zubry, despite their heavy appearance, are extremely fast when running and in all movements. In winter, they stay mainly near places where the hay they have prepared in stacks is stored.
At the end of winter, bison, especially old ones, come close to human dwellings and not only damage peasants’ haystacks, but sometimes even destroy entire pig sheds with their strong horns.
In addition to Belovezhskaya Pushcha, bison are found in the state-owned forests adjacent to the first: Svislotskaya, Shereshevskaya, Yalovskaya and Lyadskaya Pushcha, in the Omelyanetskaya dacha and private forests that belonged in the middle of the century to the landowners Eisymont and Count Sivers.
The administration of Belovezhskaya Pushcha annually checked the number of available bison, their profit and loss, and also took measures to provide them with food, to protect them from predatory animals and to prevent the movement of bison from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to neighboring areas.
In 1824, there were 500 bison in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in 1830 - 700. For the period from 1832 to 1854 there is the following table.
Number of animals present in the Pushcha
In 1855, there were 1,824 bison in the Pushcha; in 1856 - 1771; in 1857 - 1898; in 1858 - 1434 and in 1859 there was no verification; in 1860 - 1575.
Let us note by the way that the discrepancy in the table of profits and losses and then the final result of the number of bison by the next year can apparently be explained by the fact that every year a certain number of bison migrated from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the surrounding forests and back.
The most convenient method for counting bison is based on the fact that each herd is constantly kept in certain places or tracts, depending on the time of year, mainly near rivers and streams, which is why every shooter can know quite approximately the number of bison in his range. The check is done annually according to the first powder (the count of the bison is not done immediately after the snow falls, because the bison, like any wild animal, at first, until it gets used to the snow, is timid and does not move far from its place; after being in this situation for a day, and sometimes another, tormented by hunger, he finally makes the transition from the parking lot); then all the riflemen of the Belovezhskaya and Svislotskaya Pushchas on a certain day, in the morning, each in his own area, walking around its borders, count from the tracks how many bison have entered, while distinguishing the tracks of old ones from those of the same year. In addition, each shooter walks around his area lengthwise and crosswise, finds the herd, sneaks up to such a distance that he can correctly count the number of bison that make up the herd. After this, the riflemen, having gathered to their guard, each announce the number of bison on their patrols. The guard, upon receiving reports from the shooters, draws up a report on the number of bison in his patrol and submits this to the forester for drawing up a general report on the forestry and reporting to the authorities.
With such a count of bison, which depends most of all on the conscientiousness of the shooters' testimony, no doubt, only approximate figures are obtained, without any possibility of separately indicating the number of males and females.
The harvesters accept the hay prepared for them only when they no longer have enough pasture, and first of all they try to sweep the stack, looking for unspent grass, through which a lot of hay is lost.
These animals are often the prey of predatory animals, mainly wolves. During autumn and spring icy conditions, wolves make, one might say, regular roundups of these animals; Having separated the bison, mostly young ones, from the herd, they drive it onto the ice, where this animal cannot stay on the slippery surface and becomes their victim.
Although the bison, being in danger from predatory animals, take a defensive position to protect themselves, enclosing the calves in the middle of the herd, the wolves, with cunning maneuvers, always manage to break up the herd; three wolves are enough to kill the strongest bison.
In 1844, a bear of enormous size and strength was killed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, having eaten an old, huge bison; the space where the fights of these animals took place, approximately one hundred square fathoms (near the road from Belovezha to Rudnya), proved the fierceness of their struggle; According to eyewitnesses, the bison carried the bear on itself.
In 1846, a bear was also killed in the Pushcha, having eaten five bison in one summer.
To protect the bison from predatory animals, the local forest guards carefully monitored the appearance of the latter. Every shooter, having ascertained the appearance of wolves, bears or lynxes on his rounds, was obliged to immediately report this to his forester, by order of whom all the forest guards under his jurisdiction immediately gathered to carry out raids and destroy the predatory animals.
If, during their rounds in the Pushcha, the forest guards found a dead bison, then, having assigned a guard to it, they immediately brought it to the attention of the local forester; By conducting a formal investigation, the cause of death of this animal was discovered, after which an examination report was drawn up. After skinning, the bison was buried in the same place in the ground, and the skin was sold at a public auction at the proper price.
The border between Belovezhskaya Pushcha and both state-owned and private forests, apparently, provided bison with the opportunity to make frequent transitions in them; Meanwhile, it was known from experience that entire herds of bison, even if they sometimes moved into adjacent forests, then again soon returned to the Pushcha, probably not finding adequate food and tranquility for themselves in the non-bush forests. Therefore, there was no need to take measures to prevent such cases.
On the contrary, elderly bison, wandering, as already noted, alone or in twos together, often move into adjacent forests, from where they themselves rarely return, but are almost always driven back by local peasants and forest guards. To avert this, it was, among other things, decided to preserve, to the extent possible, around the Pushcha the estates of forest rangers, former guards, shooters of the permanent forest guard and sedge farmers, who were charged with the duty of immediately taking measures to drive them back in the event of bison leaving the Pushcha.
We have already talked about the methods of hunting bison practiced in ancient times in the first part of the materials for history
Grand Duke and Royal hunts. Let us borrow only from the work “The Belovezhskaya Hunt” the following interesting detail concerning the current state of the Pushcha.
In the center of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, near the village of Belovezhi, on the elevated bank of the Narevka River, there is a monument made of gray sandstone, 16 feet high, shaped like a small obelisk, with an inscription in Polish and German.
"2 September 7, 1752, His Royal Majesty August III, King of Poland, Elector of Saxony, with Her Royal Majesty and Their Royal Highnesses Xavier and Charles, hunted bison here, of which they killed 42 pieces, including 11 large ones, of which one weighed 14 centners and 50 pounds; 7 smaller ones, 18 females, 6 young ones; among them there were old males, of which one weighed 5 centners and two young ones, 57 in total.”
"With this were: His Excellency Count Branicki, Crown Hetman; His Excellency Count de Brule, First Minister of His Royal Majesty; Crown Chesnik Wielepole; Grand Equerry Count de Brule; Marshal de Biberstein, head of the crown post; Court Marshal of His Royal Majesty de Schonberg; Colonels Poniatovsky, Vilchevsky, Betersky, Starzhevsky and Captain-Lieutenant Sapega."
"The hunt was managed by Count Bolefersdorf, Chief Hunter of His Royal Majesty. Present at the hunt: Messrs. de Gablenz, catcher of His Royal Majesty; de Arnim, chamberlain of His Royal Majesty; de Leipziger and de Desevu, pages during the hunt; court shooters: Messrs. Pflug, Shtokkman, Segreyer and Pezold; foresters: Schubart, Angerman, Richter, Eichler, Kozlovsky, Bapa, Rohde, Prokopovich and Schreiter; senior foresters: Breiter, Bormann and Eigard.
We omit a detailed description of this hunt, as it is not part of our task. Brinken has it in “Memoire descriptif sur la forkt Imperiale de Bialovieza” (Warsaw, ed. 1828, p. 85).