After the Russians' arrival,
there was nothing but sport among us. We had dances and concerts,
plays, and all manner of games; but the deep snow of our Polish winter
had not hardened to the usual strong ice, over marsh, river, and
forest-land. It continued falling day after day, shutting all our
amusements within doors, and preventing, to our general regret, the
wonted wolf-hunt, always kept up in Lithuania from the middle of
December till Christmas-eve.
It was a custom, time immemorial, in the province, and followed as
much for the amusement it afforded the young people, as for the
destruction of the deadly prowler. The mode of conducting it was this:
Every two or three families who chanced to be intimate when the ice
was sufficiently strong and smooth for sledge-travelling, sent forth a
party of young hunters, with their sisters and sweethearts, in a
sledge covered at the one end, which was also well cushioned and gaily
painted; the ladies in their best winter-dresses took possession of
it, while the hunters occupied the exposed part, with guns,
shot-pouches, and hunting-knives, in complete readiness. Beside the
driver, who was generally an old experienced hand, there was placed a
young hog, or a leg of pork, occasionally roasted to make the odour
more inviting, and packed up with cords and straw in a pretty tight
parcel, which was fastened to the sledge by a long rope twisted to
almost iron hardness.
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