Saiga (fol. 25 r.)

Taras Shevchenko. Saiga. Pencil. [12 – 22.IX 1848]. Sheet 25 of album 1846 – 1850 № 109

Picture made on the Nicholas island, where the expedition stayed 12 – 22 September 1848. About the stay on the island and hunt saigas (steppe antelope) Butakov wrote in a letter to parents on October 3, 1848:

"On the island had never been a human leg, and it represents all elements of the Kyrgyz bliss: covered with forest and has fresh water in wells. And for us, the Slavs, who ate corned beef for 1 ½ months before the opening, it has more charm: a lot of saigas – kind of wild goats, whose meat is very tasty. So pulled hard on these animals my team! Twenty of members absorbed daily by two saiga, and sometimes more". [Berg L. S., Essays on the History of Russian geographical discoveries, M.-L., 1949, p. 204]

V. Ja. Tkachenko

After publication: Taras Shevchenko Complete Works in 10 volumes. – Kyiv: ed. Academy of sciences of UkrSSR, 1962, vol. 8, № 129 (image), p. 45 (note).