He encounters a Karelian witch, a Siberian shaman and wild horses in the Altai mountains.

ECONOMIST: Russia

Despite their personal sturdiness and the immense range of their wanderings (they settled Europe and Asia from the Iberian Peninsula to the Altai Mountains of Siberia), the latest genetic studies indicate their total population never managed to reach six figures.

WSJ: Neanderthals: Why Us and Not Them?

As he proceeds from Moscow to Murmansk, to the Volga, then across the Urals to Turochak on the edge of the Altai mountains and from there to Lake Baikal, Yakutsk and Kamchatka, Mr Montaigne discovers that as the Russian state disintegrates, more and more people are making a living from poaching.

ECONOMIST: Exotic sports: A new angle on Russia��s crisis | The