There was a great deal of painting and a great deal of rehearsing in the various theatres going on during my visit. This is quite one of the ugliest ‘Gardens’ in Europe; there is scarcely a tree or a blade of grass to be seen, and it is not worthy of the magnificent city it is placed in. Entrance fee thirty-two kopecks, which equals about ninepence. CHAPTER XXIX ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN, MOSCOW: DIRECTORS, MESSRS. BAUMWALDT AND HOLTZ How nice it was to get away from the cold wet north and see the sun again at Moscow! There was scarcely a cloud in the sky on the occasion of my first visit to the Zoological Garden at Moscow. After entering, on payment of thirty-two kopecks, one is confronted by a large boating lake, with cages of small birds and animals on the right bank. But, as usual, let us keep to the left, and, passing some vertebræ and jaw-bones of a gigantic whale, the first house that will be encountered is the lion house, containing, amongst other things, a bay lynx of America (_Felis ruta_), and a serval (ever snarling), a magnificent pair of large snow leopards from Thibet, and a common leopard with three tiny babies. In another cage together are two hyænas, one dog, one wolf, and one bear. The next house contains bears, and there is a monkey house close by containing, amongst other things, a flying fox. In a paddock in the Garden, next to a Thibetan kiang, or wild ass, is a specimen of the newly discovered Prejevalsky’s wild horse. This animal came out of the herd imported by Carl Hagenbeck, and from the same herd came the specimens of the curious yellow-coloured horse now to be seen in our London Garden. Carl Hagenbeck informed me that these animals were caught in three different districts south of the Mongolian town of Kobdo, near the Altai Mountains. The horses travelled twenty days to Kobdo, and ninety-five days from Kobdo to the Siberian Railway, so that by the time they reached Europe they must have had about enough travelling. The foals are caught with slings on long sticks by the Mongols, a number of whom gallop down upon a large herd at a given signal. When caught they are fed by Mongol mares, which act as their foster-mothers. [Illustration: MOOSE YARD, MOSCOW.] There were signs of great activity going on in this Garden, houses of various sorts being in course of construction in every direction, including a good new set of bear cages for the fine collection of these animals, which have now to be housed separately in various parts of the Garden. Passing a moose yard, with a North American Indian wooden shed, we mount up to a comparatively new house on a bank, and find within two Indian tusker elephants, one of which is the largest Indian elephant in Europe. It is very old, and there is a great deal of white about the head and trunk, the latter being very short in comparison with the immense body. Ten years ago it grew very savage, and has since then killed two men.