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AFTER WILD SHEEP
IN THE ALTAI AND MONGOLIA

OVIS AMMOIM

AFTER WILD SHEEP

IN THE

ALTAI AND MONGOLIA

E. DEMIDOFF

Prince San Donato
author of "hunting trips in the caucasus'

WITH S2 ILLUSTRATIONS
A COLOURED FRONTISPIECE
AND MAP

LONDON

ROWLAND WARD, limited

166, PICCADILLY

1900

All rights resetted

k\v\z\

«,x

'

PLYMOUTH

WILLIAM liRENDON AND SON

PRINTERS

PREFACE

In attempting- to describe an expedition in search
of the wild sheep of Mongolia (Ovis ammon), I am
fully aware that I have undertaken a difficult task.
The want of practical information concerning- the
country visited, the wild scenery, the curious habits
and mode of life of the native Kalmuks and Kirghiz,
the flora and fauna of a little -explored region, and
finally an account of the mightiest of wild sheep in
its natural haunts, are matters of such importance
and so closely connected, that one may well feel
embarrassed in commencing" the narrative.

On the other hand, I have been so much pressed
by English sportsmen to give an account, however
brief, of the journey, its successes and failures, that
feeling encouraged by the reception accorded last
year to my volume entitled Hunting Trips in the
Caucasus, I have decided to publish the present
account of my experiences in the Altai Mountains
and Monoolia.

do

8547

vi PREFACE

May it meet with the approval of those to whom
it is particularly addressed, viz. the sportsmen who
have devoted the best years of their lives to the
chase of wild animals in distant countries, and the
naturalists, without whose aid the labours of the
hunter, so far as science is concerned, might often
be undertaken in vain.

In addition to my own photographs here repro-
duced, I am indebted for others to Mr. St. George
Littledale, Professor Sapoknikoff (of Tomsk Uni-
versity), and Mr. Ford Barclay, to whom my grateful
acknowledgments are due, and should here be re-
corded.

DEMIDOFF.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
From London to Barnaoul via St. Petersburg and Moscow — Meeting
with Littledale — Nijni-Novgorod — Down the Volga ; up the Kama
to Taguil — Three days at Taguil — Our luggage — Cook — Special
Car— Journey to Krivostchekovo (Ob River) — Governor of Tomsk —
General Boldyreff, head of the Altai district — Ispravnik — Village of
Nikolaievsk — Up the Ob to Barnaoul . . Page i

CHAPTER II.
From Barnaoul through Bisk and Ongudai to Kosh-Agatch (Siberian
frontier) — Tarantass — Bad Roads— Bisk — First sight of the Altai
Mountains — The "Maralnik," or Deer Park at Shebalina — Kalmuks
—Ongudai — Russian Police Official, M. Meyer — Preparations at
Ongudai — Tchouia Valley — Singular Performance of Native Priest
— Kosh-Agatch — Customs Official — Zaissan Semion — Taba — Duck
Shooting . . . . ... 36

CHAPTER III.
Start from Kosh-Agatch — Steppe — Camp — Up Tchagan-Burgaza Valley
— First sight of Wild Sheep — Kotchkor — Arkhar— Snow Bridge —
Pitching Camp — First Shooting Camp — Kalmuk Vocabulary- -Cold
Nights— Stalks— The Happy Valley {Bain-Tchagan)— More Stalks
— Snow and Wind . . . ... 90

CHAPTER IV.
Last days on the Tchagan-Burgaza — Pass over the Frontier — Shift
Camp into Mongolia — A Blizzard — Major Cumberland's Camp —
The Start — Map unreliable — Meet Chinese — Great numbers of Sheep
Heads — Karaoul Suok — Chinese Governor — Passports — Chinese
Officials — Interpreters — Joseph returns with fresh Stores — Start for
Bain-Khairkhan Hills , . . ... 132

CONTENTS

CHAPTER V.

March to the Suok River — Camp at foot of Bain-Khairkhan Range —
Snok Valley — Wild Sheep seen— An unsuccessful Stalk — Antelopes
seen — Sand-grouse — Wolves — Plover — Gray ling fishing — Snow-cock
— Littledale's success — More Stalks — Shift Camp — Russian Merchant
— March by Kobdo River — Hares — Marmot — Horses footsore —
Kirghiz Yourts — Marmot Skins — Crossing Tchagan-Kol River —
Chinese Karaoul — Valley of the Sumdairik— Muss-Taou Range
— A new Guide ..... Page

CHAPTER VI.

Sources of Kobdo River — Lakes — Fishing — Muss-Taou Hills — Journey
northwards — Nicolas sent for Sheep — Sumdairik River Camp —
Meat at last — Fresh Ponies expected at Tchagan-Kol River — March
on 16th of July — No Sport — Fresh Ponies and Men arrive — More
Marches — Moraine of old Glacier — Crossing the Tchagan-Kol back
— Camps — Snowstorm — Littledale finds Wild Sheep — Joseph sent
for Stores— Olonur Valley — Snow — July 23rd— Shooting — Game at
last — Antelope — First sight of Ibex (Copra Sibirica) — Stalks with
Taba — Littledale brings in a good Ram — Meeting with Zaissan
Semion and Kirghiz Chief . . . . . . 217

CHAPTER VII.
Olonur Camp — Stalking Sheep— Weather-beaten horns of Maral found
— Lake Valley — Hares and Brahminy Geese seen — Joseph returns
with Stores — My Wife goes out Stalking — Littledale's Record Head
— Thunderstorms — I wound a fine Ram— We Shift Camp — Taba's
successful Ruse — Unsuccessful Pursuit — Our Camp under the Nam
Daba Pass — Stampede of the Pack-horses — A good Stalk on August
2nd — Shift Camp over Frontier — More Stalking — The Tarkhaty
River — Kirghiz Encampment with great Herds of Horses — I get
a good Ibex — Return to Camp on the Tchagan-Burgaza River . 243

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER VIII.
Pack-ponies go astray ; replaced by Camels from the Kirghiz — Again
in the Happy Valley — More Stalking- — Letters at Last — Weather
breaks up — Kosh-Agatch Plain — Antelope — Our Bag- — Start for
Bashkaous Valley — Shooting Wild Fowl on the Kosh-Agatch Steppe
—My Wife kills a Wild Swan with the Rifle— In the Altai Woodlands

— Pine, Larch, and Birch — After Maral and Roe-deer — Grayling
Fishing in the Bashkaous River — The Zaissan's Home — Kara Kodjur
Stream — Unsuccessful Approaches — Wild Scenery — Sorry-Kol Lake
— Tracks of Maral and Moose — Littledale shoots a good Roe-buck

— Our Camp at Yulientash — Absence of Deer — September 6th —
General Retreat to Ongoudai — Meeting with Major Wissmann —
Homeward Bound .... Page 28

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

A Wild Sheep ..... Frontispiece

On the Volga .....

7

Taguil .....

ii

Lake Taguil ...

14

On Taguil River ....

15

" Sheleznaia Gora" {i.e. Iron Mountain)

•7

Taguil Iron-works ....

21

" Outside the station-house we saw long- wooden planks set

ip" • <H

Bridge over the Ob ....

• 31

Arrival at Kosh-Agatch ....

• 36

Source of the Katoun ....

■ 37

Lake Teletzkoi ....

• 39

Tarantasses .....

• 40

Bisk .....

42

Bielukha Glaciers ....

• 43

Marmot Hunting ....

■ 4b

Deer Park at Shebalina

• 50

" Knowing their master's call, would gather round him "

51

Maral Hind .....

• 53

Kalmuks .....

• 57

Kalmuk Zaissan ....

• 59

The last Station ....

. 62

Altai Scenery .....

• 63

Crossing the Katoun ....

• 67

Saldjar Pass .....

. 69

Kalmuks between Ongudai and Kosh-Agatch

7'

Kalmuk offerings to gods

• 72

"As we advanced, the country grew wilder"

73

" Waving the legs of the skins to and fro "

75

Kalmuk Yourt . . .

■ 76

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Passing a "Boma"

Up the Valley of the Tchouia

Kosh-Agatch Plateau

Catching Horses

Punishing a Kalmuk

The Start from Kosh-Agatch

Loading a Horse

A Snow-bridge

Our Kitchen

Our first day's Bag

Our Camp under Snow .

" Enjoying his morning siesta '

Returning to Camp

"A large herd of Sheep, apparently all

The Happy Valley

Waiting for the Storm to Pass

" Watching "

" They crossed the stream at full gallop "

"There were three first-class old rams amongst th

Taba ....

"A pack of Wolves attacked our ponies".

" We ran down the slope "

A Day's Rest ....

Skulls of Sheep piled up in heaps

"We were met by half a dozen Chinamen"

Daniel ....

Littledale trying the Yak

A Tame Yak ....

Waiting for the Pack-ponies

Preparing to Cross the Tchagan-Kol

Mrs. Littledale and the Author Crossing the Tchagan-Kol

A Smooth Passage

"Janny" Ratting

Our new Demitcha and men . - .

Jacob, the Demitcha, in the Bashkaous Valley

" Heads of Sheep strewed the ground "

The Asiatic Ibex (Capra sibirica) .

Olonur Camp . . . •

"Two or three Rams quietly feeding"

Littledale's Record Head of Ovis amnion .

79
Si

83
86

87
88

92
97
99
109

114
117
119
121

1-23
126

i^7
135
i37
i45
149
163
170

i73
176
178
'79
203
205
206
207

215
219

229

135
245
249
261

LIST OV ILLUSTRATIONS

Comparing Heads . . . ... 273

Return to Tchagan-Burgaza . . ... 282

Our Kirghiz . . . . ... 284

Our Camels . . . . ... 285

Taba with a Pack Camel . . ... 287

The Bag at Kosh-Agatch . . . . . 291

Packing Horses at Kosh-Agatch . . ... 293

Twelve Ponies laden with Horns start for Ongoudai . 295

Our Camp on the Banks of Lake Sarry-Kol . . . 303

Siberian Roe-buck {Capriolns pygargus) . ... 305

Homeward Bound . . . . . . 310

The Author's Bag from the Altai . . . . 311

Our Special Luggage Van for Trophies and Packages . 313

AFTER WILD SHEEP

IN THE

ALTAI AND MONGOLIA

CHAPTER I.

From London to Barnaoul via St. Petersburg and Moscow — Meeting
with Littledale — Nijni- Novgorod — Down the Volga ; up the Kama
to Taguil — Three days at Taguil — Our luggage — Cook — Special Car —
Journey to Krivostchekovo (Ob River) — Governor of Tomsk —General
Holdyrefif, head of the Altai district — Ispravnik — Village of Niko-
laievsk — Up the Ob to Barnaoul.

It was in the spring- of 1897 that, strolling down
Piccadilly, my wife and I, on passing the well-known
window of Mr. Rowland Ward, were struck by
the unusual size and massiveness of some heads
of wild sheep which were there on view. On
making inquiry we were told that they were heads
of Ovis amnion, lately secured by Major Cumberland
on the Russo-Chinese slopes of the Altai Mountains.
There were six or seven of them, and I think I
never was more impressed by any trophies I had

?\ltf: ai t;:k w:i,p .sheep in the aetai

seen. I at once decided that the year should not
pass before I also would attempt to make a similar
bag-. From that moment my only thought was to
start as soon as possible. I accordingly endeavoured
to secure all the information possible on the subject,
chiefly, of course, on the locality where the animals
in question had been shot. Failing to find Major
Cumberland himself, who I understood had set out
on another and more distant journey, I luckily came
across the interpreter who had accompanied him to
the Altai, Joseph Abbas by name, and with whose
useful help I marked on the map the route leading
to those happy hunting grounds. He told me that
there was plenty of sport to be obtained, that the
magnificent sheep whose heads I had so much
admired were by no means scarce, and that if we
only went further into Mongolia we would come
across virgin country where no sportsman had yet
had the pick of such trophies. To this I of course
agreed with the greatest enthusiasm, having four
good summer months before me, and at once engaged
Joseph's services, enjoining him to be ready to start
by the middle of April. In the meantime I com-
municated this plan to my friend Mr. St. George
Littledale, who had also seen the heads, and who was
equally keen to secure similar trophies.

PREPARATIONS 3

Mrs. Littledale said she could not be left behind ;
my wife also insisted upon accompanying us, and
in this way our party of four was made up.
We calculated that from Moscow it would take us
little more than a month to reach our grounds, and
accordingly decided to meet there between the 10th
and 15th of May, so as to reach the Siberian frontier
towards the middle of June. Moreover, though very
impatient to start, I had been told that some of the
large rivers we should have to cross on our way were
absolutely unfordable until the beginning of June ; the
roads, too, were supposed to be very bad in spring
(our subsequent experience indicated that this was
the case all the year round) ; several passes would
also be difficult to negotiate — all this delayed our
departure and postponed our rendezvous at Moscow
until the middle of May.

Having concluded our preparations in London, we
started, my wife and I, for St. Petersburg early in
April. Our tents and stores and other impedimenta
had been shipped a few days previously to Libau,
a port which at that time of year was not frozen.
I had a few matters to settle in St. Petersburg before
leaving, the most important being to secure the
services of a good doctor, who would not mind
roughing it, and who was accustomed to travelling

B 2

4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

in a wild country. The choice fell upon 1 )r. Newsky,
who had been actively engaged in Russian Turkestan
during- the time when cholera was raging there. He
seemed most willing to accompany us, and expressed
the intention of taking numerous photographs and
collecting botanical as well as geological specimens
for the St. Petersburg" Museum. I received a most
encouraging letter from Mr. P. Semenoff, Vice-
President of the Imperial Geographical Society,
urging" me to bring back as much information as I
could on the country I was about to visit, adding that
the slightest details, to whatever branch of science
they might belong, would be most acceptable to the
Society. Mr. Alpheraki, a Russian naturalist, called
upon me and gave me a highly interesting account
of his travels to Kuldja and the Yulduz valleys,
stating that he had brought back many new species
of insects and plants, and expressing the hope that
I would likewise contribute to his collection. Unfor-
tunately I was wholly unprepared for such scientific
objects, and deprecated his too sanguine expectations.
Mr. Alpheraki was at that time (and I believe is
still) engaged in completing a work on the Anatidce
of the Russian Empire. He was kind enough to
show me some advanced coloured plates which were
to illustrate his interesting" book, and they appeared

A RARE DUCK 5

to me highly successful. He told me that there was
a particular duck which was supposed to breed on
the Mongolian plateaux, and which he was most
desirous to obtain ; he gave me a water-colour sketch
of it, asking me to try and secure a specimen for him.
I promised to do my best, but unluckily failed in
my attempts, though the Kalmuks to whom I showed
the drawing assured me that they had often seen the
species on the numerous lakes of the Kosh-Agatch
plain. I entrusted Dr. Newsky with the scientific
portion of our researches, intending to devote myself
entirely to chase of sheep and ibex. To my great
disappointment, however, he also was unprepared
for the task, and the small efforts made in that
direction resulted only in a collection of plants which
my wife made on our way from one camp to the
other, a list of which will be given later on. Cristo,
my valet, who accompanied me on this journey,
proved very useful in many ways.

We started from St. Petersburg, my wife and I,
the Doctor and Cristo, on the 13th of May, reaching
Moscow the following morning, where we found
Joseph, the interpreter, awaiting us on the station
platform. Mr. and Mrs. Littledale had just arrived
at the Slaviansky Bazaar, and we lunched merrily
together, talking over our forthcoming trip. They

6 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

had secured as servant a first-rate man, Gabriel by
name, who had accompanied us the previous year
to the Caucasus, and with whom Littledale had been
thoroughly satisfied. He rendered himself very
useful in camp, and by no means the least of his
accomplishments was his art of skinning heads. In
order not to waste a whole day, as our boat was to
leave Nijni-Novgorod on the following afternoon,
we decided to quit Moscow at 4 p.m., reaching Nijni
earl\ next morning. Our baggage, amounting to
about a ton, was to be sent by the next steamer
and join us at Taguil, a place in the Ural Mountains
belong 110- to my family, where we intended to stop
two or three days for the purpose of giving the ladies
a rest before commencing the long and dreary journey
on the Siberian Railway, and for the purpose also of
getting our luggage into a more expeditional shape,
taking only what was immediately wanted, and
leaving the remainder to follow later. Moreover,
we had to engage the services of a cook. Accord-
ingly, early on May 15th we found ourselves at
Nijni in time to see the preparations that were beino'
made for the great annual fair. The banks of the
Volga were covered with goods of all kinds, which
find their way there from all parts of Asia, and the
traffic was just beginning, owing to the opening of

DOWN THE VOLGA 9

the rivers. Our steamer, the s.s. Ekaterinburg,
of the Lubimoff Company, was awaiting us alongside
the pier, and at 1.30 p.m. we began slowly to move
down the great river Volga.

It was a somewhat monotonous journey, the scenery
on either side bearing a decided look of uniformity :
large rolling plains covered with wheat or grass, woods
very scarce, now and then higher banks overshadow-
ing the riverside, and a few villages scattered here
and there, conspicuous by their churches towering-
above the wooden huts and glistening in the sun. The
weather, it must be owned, was beautiful, and the air
as transparent as possible, such as one only encounters
in Russia in spring-time. I have nowhere seen a
more striking wakening up of nature than in that
country. Every bud, every blade of grass at that
season seems to be alive, and birds appear to rejoice
more exuberantly than anywhere else. Long strings
of swans, geese, and ducks appearing from the south,
hundreds of yards high, are then constantly observ-
able, and life shows itself in its utmost intensity.

Our steamer called at several places before we hove
in sight of Kasan, the great Tartar town, which we
reached at 6 a.m. on the following morning. Here
we stopped till 1 1 a.m. Tons of cargo were shipped,
and we began to fear that we might miss our train

,o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

at Perm if we were delayed much longer. Here also

we witnessed a curious and lively bargaining affray
between the captain of our ship and a crowd (I was
going to say a herd) of squalid-looking Tartars who,
wanting to he conveyed to some landing-place further
on, made offers for the price of their passage. The
captain was demanding i rouble 50 kopecks apiece,
shouting from the top of the deck ; the Tartars were
willing to give only 1 rouble 30 kopecks. Finally,
after a long and noisy dispute, the bargain was struck
at 1 rouble 43 kopecks, and the whole throng poured
in with yells and a strong smell of Russian leather
boots and unwashed humanity.

After leaving Kasan we soon branched off from
the Volga up the Kama, and saw many icebergs
floating down the river. Here the scenery changed
as we neared Perm. Both sides of the stream were
covered with beautiful dense fir woods and pine.
The weather still remained cloudless, and in the
best of spirits we landed at Perm on the 1 8th of
May at 9.30 p.m.

Although a couple of hours late, we found that
we were in time for the train, which started at 1 1 p.m.
We also received the good news that our baggage
had left Nijrti by the following steamer, and would
find us in three days at Taguil. On the morning

TAGUIL 13

of the 15th of May we reached Taguil and drove
to the house.

Taguil is the head town, or rather the head
village, of a vast mining district in the centre of
the Ural Mountains. It cannot be called a town,
not having a municipality, but as regards size it is
larger than many towns, and contains over 30,000
inhabitants, principally workmen and engineers. It
lies at the foot of the " Sheleznaia Gora " {i.e. iron
mountain), one of the richest in iron-ore, and the
works are spread all round it in order to avoid
expenses of transport. Copper is also to be found
within a few miles in great abundance, and is melted
at the other end of the village. Platinum and gold
are likewise distributed in the neighbourhood.

At the head of the village lies a lake about twelve
miles long, into which flows the river Taguil, yielding-
considerable water-power for the iron- works. The
country round Taguil presents the aspect of low
rolling hills covered with pine, fir, and birch woods,
which become denser as one proceeds further from
the inhabited districts. These woods contain a fair
amount of game. I have myself shot elk and
cariboo within fifty miles north of Taguil. Brown
bears abound, also the Siberian Roe-deer [Caprcolus
pygargus), which I have secured close to the village,

1 1

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

and which I believe is identical with die roc which
we found in the wooded regions of the Altai. 1 have
been lately informed that a hunter of the Ekaterin-
burg Shooting Club brought news that he had come
across three large beasts in the woods which he had

never seen before. On showing him various draw-
ings in a book of Natural History and on reaching
that of an Aurochs, he immediately recognised it
as resembling the animals he had seen. Aurochs,
therefore, may exist in the dense Siberian Taiga and
may have come over; but I give this information
with all reserve. As regards birds, Capercaillie and

TAGUIL 15

Black Game are found in great numbers. The native
hunters, who frequent the woods in search of fur-
bearing- animals, such as Sable (now becoming very
scarce), Siberian Squirrel, White Fox, etc., assert that

ON TAGUIL KIVI-.K.

they would rather meet a Bear in the woods than an
Elk, which is supposed to be more dangerous than any
other animal. A local proverb on the subject always
struck me : " For bear prepare your bed, for elk your
coffin." The Taguil estate lies on the very boundary
between Europe and Asia, and a huge red post stands

16 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

in the middle of the woods with the inscription :
-'.Here ends Europe, here begins Asia." There are
also many traditions of the passage of Ermak, the
adventurer, who in the sixteenth century crossed the
Ural Mountains with a few followers and conquered
Siberia for the Russian Tsar, Ivan the Terrible.
I\Ian\- rocks bear witness to his journey, with in-
scriptions in places where he had camped. A few
villages are scattered about the country, most of them
having sprung up owing to mines or gold washings
in the neighbourhood. At their outskirts usually
stands a shed where the peasants, each in turn, place
bread and "kvas," a Russian beverage made of
barley. A wooden board above the shed bears these
strange words : " For the miserable." This is an old
custom of the country. Russian convicts, who con-
trive to escape from the Eastern Siberian galleys,
cross the Ural range on their way back to Europe.
Being short of food, and in order to obtain it, they
used to raid the villages by night, and bloodshed
would often ensue. In order to put an end to this
state of things, the inhabitants decided to provide
these outlaws with food in the way I have described,
and thus prevent the frequent murders that took
place. The mining people are sometimes very savage
and cruel ; in one case a girl was slowly burnt to

THREE DAYS AT TAGUIL 19

death for non-compliance with the wishes of her

torturers. Other instances of this kind might be

given, but it would carry me too far from my subject.

On the day we arrived at Taguil (the Littledales,

my wife, and myself), we visited the iron-works, and

having heard that there was some fair woodcock

shooting to be obtained in the vicinity of the town,

we decided (Littledale and I) to go out that evening

with our guns. Spring woodcock -shooting is a

favourite sport in Russia. It is known under the

name of "Tiaga," which signifies a marked place

where woodcock fly towards evening in search of

their mates, skimming the tops of trees and uttering

a hissing cry, which is heard from afar. They usually

skim in circles round the place, and the guns are

posted in the centre of the line of flight. I have

heard of a dozen birds having been bagged in this

way between 7 and 7.30 p.m. We travelled in a

luggage van for about ten miles along the new

railway that had just been constructed to the works,

and soon found ourselves in the midst of the woods.

As the sun was setting I heard the first woodcock's

cry, followed immediately by shots. Nothing came

in my direction, but Littledale secured three. We

returned in the dark, and found our platform -car

waiting for us.
c 2

2o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

The next two clays were spent in visiting the
mines. The ladies drove down to see the platinum
washings, whilst we went after ducks on the lake ;
but the wind was so strong that we did not succeed
in getting any, and had to give it up. Through the
courtesy of General Pavlovsky, the chief inspector
of the West Siberian Railway, to whom I had wired,
a special car was placed at our disposal for our four
days' journey along the line to the Ob River, where
we branched off towards Barnaoul. This was, indeed,
a great relief to us, there being- nothing more tiring
for ladies than a long journey in a bad railway-car.

Our house-car, for the next few days thus amiably
provided, arrived at Taguil on the 26th, and we went
to the station to see it. It was a comfortable first-
class carriage, with plenty of room for our part)-,
rifles, and hand-baggage — by no means a trifle. In
the meantime I had engaged the services of a cook,
Vassili by name, a young fellow who had worked in
the platinum mines, and was willing to accompany
us and show us his proficiency in culinary art. He
proved quite a success, and none of us ever regretted
having engaged him. On the afternoon of May 22nd
our anxiously expected impedimenta at last arrived,
and we began forthwith sorting our stores, packing
up what we strictly required into carefully weighed

OUR LUGGAGE 23

pony loads, and leaving articles of luxury behind.
The house was in a state of great confusion ; every
single thing was taken out, and the floor resembled
a London grocery shop. A box containing two gross
of safety matches had been detained, for some reason,
by the Russian Customs, who promised to forward it
after examination to Barnaoul. We found it there
on our return journey ! The next day was devoted to
similar occupation, and on the morning of May 24th,
everything being ready, we left Taguil at 1 1 a.m.
The weather was quite settled, and we soon found
it warmer than we liked. Four hours brought us
to Ekaterinburg, from which place we branched off
due south through the most important mining dis-
tricts of the Ural Mountains, reaching Tcheliabinsk
early next morning. From this place the Western
Siberian Railway starts, and here begins the dreary,
monotonous view of Siberian steppes and marshes,
which we had to contemplate for three long days.
The sun was scorching- hot as we crawled along at
the rate of twelve miles an hour through these
immense fiat plains. We found villages very scarce ;
Kourgan, Petnopavloosk, Omak, and Kainsk were
the only large towns en route. At the stations
hardly any provisions were to be got, and we had
to rely entirely upon our own stores. Now and

?4

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

then, outside the station-house, we saw long wooden
planks set up, on which the peasants of the neigh-
bouring villages had placed chickens, bread, or fish,
sometimes water melons, to sell. A few kopecks
was the utmost one could spend. I must confess

TATION-HOUSE WE SAW LONG WOODEN I'LANKS SET UP. '

that melons were greatly appreciated by our party,
owing to the intense heat.

We saw great numbers of ducks in the marshy
steppes round Kainsk ; at other places, where the
soil was dry, it was cultivated. The Akmolinsk and
Semiretchensk countries are supposed to be the
granaries of Siberia and Russia, where wheat is

GENERAL 150LDYREFF 25

largely imported, especially in time of famine. Trees
were to be seen here and there, mostly birch, but
hardly close enough to form woods. In fact, it may
be said that the whole tract of land between the
Ural Mountains and the Ob is practically bare.
The exceedingly slow pace at which we advanced
was most trying. In confirmation of this statement
I may refer to a lively scene of which we were
witnesses. The train on quitting a station had left
behind some of the passengers, who had gone out
into the fields to pick flowers. At the next station,
where we halted a long time, we saw our wretched
fellow-travellers who had been dropped running
breathless along the line, and eventually overtaking
the train with frantic yells and waving of caps.

On the 28th of May we reached the Ob River,
and were heartily greeted by General Lomatchevsky,
Governor of Tomsk, to whom I had sent a letter
of introduction, and General Boldyreff, chief of the
Altai district, whose headquarters were at Barnaoul,
and who received us in a most hospitable manner.
These gentlemen informed us that we should find
it a very difficult job to follow the Tchouia Valley
up to Kosh-Agatch, especially with ladies, the path
being in places exceedingly narrow. No repre-
sentatives of the female sex had ever tried it, save

26 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

a few native Kalmuk matrons. As for ladies' saddles,
they seemed to think that they were entirely out of
question. This was confirmed by the Ispravnik
(chief police officer) of the Barnaoul district, to
whom I was then introduced, and who was appointed
by Genera] Lomatchevsky to accompany us to the
Siberian frontier. Being" a true Siberian citizen and
native of the Altai, the Ispravnik gave us a deal
of information on the country, and strongly urged
us not to proceed into Mongolia, where, he said,
our Kalmuk staff would probably refuse to follow
us, fearing that their horses might be stolen by the
native Mongols and Kirghiz. He was an honest,
straightforward man, but somewhat rough with his
subordinates, a failing which later on caused not a
few misunderstandings.

The Governor of Tomsk was as civil as possible to
us, and told us that he was, at that moment, working
out a plan of converting the Tchouia path into a road
for the tea caravans, which would undoubtedly in that
case adopt this route from China, through Ulias-
soutai and Kobdo, in preference to the ancient road
through Kiachta, which was much longer. In fact,
one of the leading Russian tea merchants said he
had already received great quantities of tea through
Kosh-Agatch, and had found it far more profitable,

"FATHER THEODOR" 27

notwithstanding that he had had to reload his goods
from camels to horses. The Russian Government,
however, did not then seem inclined to spend a
large sum in carrying out the submitted scheme,
and an engineer was commissioned to report on the
probable cost. According to my observations a
good deal of dynamite would be wanted, sheer
rocky falls into the river being numerous. It was
here, while lunching on board the small steamer
that was to convey us and our fortunes up the Ob,
that, for the first time, I was given a full account
of the legend of the so-called "Father Theodor "
by our friend the Ispravnik, who was a young police
officer at Tomsk at the time of Father Theodor's
death in the sixties. I had always considered this
legend as one of the most curious and interesting-,
and it may be worth while to relate the facts round
which an impenetrable mystery still hovers.

In almost all Siberian villages there is scarcely a
house which does not contain the portrait of an old
man known as " Father Theodor," whose memory,
as a saint, will outlive many generations throughout
the country. About the year 1830, it is said, a man
appeared at Tomsk under the name of Theodor. No
one knew whence he came or who he was. The
only fact that had been confirmed was that he had

2<S AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

been caught by the police without a passport on the
Ural borders of Siberia, and after due punishment
for refusing to disclose his identity (at that time the
penalty was the knout) had been transferred as a
settler for life to Tomsk. There everyone was struck
by his cultivated manner, his wonderful knowledge
of languages (for besides Russian he spoke English
and French perfectly), his gentle bearing, noble
features, and quiet mode of life. In a few years
his fame spread throughout the whole of Siberia.
The common people began to consider him a saint,
and would gather in crowds around his cell in order
to receive his blessing. He lived in a small room
in the house of a rich merchant named Somoff, who
had given him hospitality, but he refused all comfort
and luxury, took very little food, and prayed con-
stantly. One thing he never refused to do, viz. to
teach children, and it was noticed that his favourite
subject was Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812.
He was acquainted with every detail of the war,
seemed to know every general who had taken part
in it, and could describe every battle with precision.
He taught the children to love Russia and honour
the memory of Alexander I. the Beloved. In this
manner he lived over thirty years at Tomsk, ever
silent about his own personality, and sowing the seeds

"FATHER THEODOR" 29

of religion and instruction throughout the whole
district. He died in extreme old age, as he had
lived, with the stoicism and calmness which faith
alone can afford. It is said that he confided to his
host on his death-bed who he was, under oath of
secrecy, and the papers which were found in his
possession were despatched by Somoff by special
messenger to St. Petersburg, where it is supposed
they were destroyed by order of the Emperor
Nicholas. Rumours began to spread over the
country that he was no other than the Tsar
Alexander I., and a consideration of the facts of the
desire of that monarch to abdicate ; his supposed
death at Taganrog after a short and mysterious
illness ; his coffin not having been opened in Moscow,
according to the Russian custom, in order that the
people might see the body of their deceased
sovereign ; the coincidence of dates when Theodor
was arrested as a vagabond ; his education, patriotism,
and full knowledge of the French invasion ; his stately
figure and noble features, resembling, it was said,
those of Alexander's — all these facts, I repeat, only
helped to strengthen the conclusions of the people.
Moreover, by the care of his friend Somoff a cross had
been placed over his tomb, in the cemetery at Tomsk,
bearing the initials £. The Ispravnik who related

3o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the story to us had been an eye-witness of this curious
circumstance, and had been himself commissioned
to take off this cross by night so as not to create
a disturbance in the town. These are the facts, which
need no comment. I give them as I heard them,
and I think it doubtful whether history will ever
unravel the mystery.

General Lomatchevsky gave us some interesting-
accounts of convicts. Amongst others he told us
that a few years ago there appeared at Tomsk a

man who gave himself out as Prince •, saying

that he was travelling for his own pleasure. The
General asked him to dinner, and found him a
delightful companion. Some days later came a
report that a dangerous convict had escaped from
the galleys, and the visitor on being summoned to
produce his passport confessed that he could no
longer conceal his identity, and that he was the
convict of whom the police were in search, but that
he considered himself amply rewarded by the
Governor's excellent dinner !

At 2 p.m. we parted with General Lomatchevsky,
who wished us success, and the steamer began
advancing slowly up the Ob. We passed under the
magnificent railway bridge over the broad river,
leaving to our left the village of Nikolaevsky. This

UP THE OB 31

village, owing- to its geographical position, had grown
in a few months to considerable dimensions. Where
a year ago there were only a few stray huts, nearly
20,000 inhabitants, chiefly colonists, had now taken
up their abode, and the Government was on the

BRIDGE OVER THE OB.

point of converting the place into a town. General
Boldyreff and the Ispravnik entertained us most
agreeably during the journey to Barnaoul, where
we were due early on May 30th.

The banks of the Ob presented on either side low
rolling steppes, mostly bare and cultivated land, but
as we entered the vast Altai district pine forests and

32 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

cedar woods were to be seen, and grew denser as
we advanced. Villages were extremely scarce, the
steamer calling only at four or five landing-places
during the forty hours we were on board. The
distance by land is much shorter, and takes about
sixteen hours with good horses, but owing to the
wide zigzags of the river and the comparatively slow
pace at which we went against ' the strong- current,
we could hardly expect to reach our destination
sooner. At the few stations where the steamer halted
I was struck by the beautiful sight of rock-cherry
bushes in full bloom ; the banks were literally covered
with snowy - white flowers, in which numbers of
nightingales sang in praise of spring. The weather
was cloudless, and added to the enjoyment of the
wild scenery. In addition to this, the General and
the Ispravnik gave highly interesting descriptions of
the regions we were about to visit, with valuable
information on the Kalmuks and their ways, inter-
mingling their accounts with many Siberian tales and
anecdotes. High were our expectations, and every
sportsman will understand the feelings we expe-
rienced in anticipation of the sport to which we so
keenly looked forward. We did our best in trans-
lating to share these accounts with the Littledales,
who were under the same spell as ourselves.

BARNAOUL 33

On May 30th, at 8.30, we came in sight of Bar-
naoul, and landed safely at nine. General Boldyreff
had most obligingly placed his house at our disposal,
thus giving us a new proof of Eastern hospitality,
and, gratefully accepting his invitation, we drove to
his residence. Barnaoul is the largest and practically
the only town of the Altai district which belongs
personally to the Emperor. It was given to the
Empress Elizabeth in the middle of the eighteenth
century by one of my ancestors, whose monument
stands in one of the squares of Barnaoul, and has
been ever since a private estate of the Crown.

The whole area of the Government is over 200
square miles of wooded country, containing silver
mines, iron -works, and coal. Madame Boldyreff
received us with the greatest kindness, and housed
us in most luxurious rooms. Having packed up a
few more supplies, we carted our luggage next day
(in order not to be delayed by it) for Bisk, a small
town lying on the junction of the Ob and Bia rivers,
and thence to Ongudai, where we would have to load
it on ponies, and sent it on with Joseph and our cook
to accompany the twelve heavy cart loads. The
Littledales were to start on the following day by
short stages.

We postponed our departure until the 3rd of June,

34 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

intending to travel straight through to Ongudai,

where we expected to find our companions and the
baggage safely arrived.

The weather was cold and rainy during the whole
time we remained at Barnaoul. On the whole the
climate is very severe, being" extremely continental,
and winter is long and dreary. No fruit grows in
the district, not even apples. In the meantime we
visited the town under General Boldyreff's super-
vision. We found an interesting museum, with
specimens of stuffed animals of the district : Wild
Sheep, Ibex, Maral, and, to my great astonishment,
a Tiger, which I was told had been shot many years
before in the neighbourhood of Barnaoul. This
appeared to me very unlikely, though not impossible.
In the museum we saw a fine geological and mineral-
ogical collection, and a well -supplied library, chiefly
containing works on the Altai, by Tchichatcheff, the
Russian traveller, Bunge and Ledebour, the well-
known botanists, with splendid plates of the different
plants of the district. I was also struck by the active
interest which the authorities at Barnaoul take in the
welfare and education of the common people, an
interest which seemed to me to be much above the
average in comparison with that of European Russia.
For instance, there is a special hall, with a garden

DEPARTURE FROM BARNAOUL 35

attached to it, converted into a public reading-room.
A committee has been formed with the view of
encouraging theatrical performances for the common
people, and several elementary schools are kept and
maintained by this association.

After having bade adieu to our hosts, we left
Barnaoul, as we had decided, early on June 3rd,
provided with detailed maps through General Boldy-
reff's kind attention, and in his own comfortable
carriage, which he lent us till we reached Ongudai.

ARRIVAL AT KOSH-AGATCH.

CHAPTER II.

From Barnaoul through Bisk and Ongudai to Kosh-Agatch (Siberian
frontier) — Tarantass — Bad Roads — Bisk — First sight of the Altai
Mountains — The " Maralnik," or Deer Park at Shebalina — Kalmuks
— Ongudai — Russian Police Official, M. Meyer — Preparations at
Ongudai — Tchouia Valley — Singular Performance of Native Priest
— Kosh-Agatch— Customs Official — Zaissan Semion — Taba — Duck
Shooting.

The distance between Barnaoul and Bisk is 150
versts, or about 120 miles. The country presents
the aspect of low, rolling, grassy steppes, through
which wind the two great tributaries of the Ob,
the Bia and the Katoun, the former flowing out
of Lake Teletzkoie (the largest lake in the Altai
district), the latter drawing its sources from the
36

SOURCE OF THE KATOl'N.

FERRY-BOATS

39

Bielukha gla-
ciers on the
Chinese bor-
ders. Though
the road was as bad as it could be, we managed to
reach Bisk late in the evening-. Soon after quitting
Barnaoul we had to cross two branches of the Ob
in ferry-boats, there being no bridges in sight.
These ferry-boats were worked in the most primitive
fashion by horses tied to two cross-posts ; they were
made to turn round and round, thus bringing into
motion a huge capstan. Planks were placed across
so as to enable our tarantasses to embark, which

4o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

was by no means an easy matter, one of the planks
breaking down under our weight, and if it had not
been for the timely impulse given by the driver's
whip we should certainly have taken an involuntary
bath. The water at that time of year was very
high, owing to melting snows in the mountains, while

the current was very strong. No further accident
occurred, however, and we were safely landed on
the opposite side.

Pursuant to the Ispravnik's orders, horses awaited
us at every post-house, which helped considerably to
lessen the delay. The eight or ten villages through
which we passed were literally drowned in mud ; at

BAD ROADS 41

places our wheels were hidden from view, and it
required much persuasion on the part of our driver
to make the wretched ponies struggle through. The
villages struck me by their size, and the inhabitants
seemed fairly well off.

Most of the peasants here are descendants of
Russian colonists who had emigrated and acquired
a certain prosperity, owing to a liberal allotment
of ground such as is unknown in European Russia.
Their ways and manners are entirely different from
those of the peasants in Central Russia. Here one
observes a stronger spirit of independence and sense
of personal freedom. Labour and intelligence are
the striking features ; common people do not kneel
down before officials or noblemen, but consider it
more natural to shake hands. Carefully tended
education, and residence at a distance from all-
centralising authorities have done more to civilise
the country than any efforts on the part of the
Government. Further colonisation, however, of
these parts has been stopped, and emigrants from
Russia are now being directed eastwards, where
large tracts of land still await human hands and
cultivation. Another reason for the welfare of the
country is, I believe, the absence of common
property which exists in most parts of European

42 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

Russia, where peasants arc only tenants oi the
land, and are shifted by decisions of the community
from one hit of ground to another ; the result being
that they never care to improve ground which next
year may be taken away and allotted to someone

else. Here every peasant is a small proprietor,
and the Government land tax is cheerfully paid.

In one of the villages our tarantass wheels at
last succumbed to the overwhelming mud, and
caused a long delay. The mud, indeed, was so
deep that all traffic was stopped, and the inhabitants
had great difficulty in wading from one side of the
street to the other. We reached Bisk in the dark,

MARMOT HUNTING 45

and there found a similar state of things. It took
lis a long time to reach the merchant's house where
rooms had been prepared for us.

The Littledales had already passed on their way
to Ongudai, for which place we decided to start
the next morning". We found the authorities most
hospitable and kind, and the police officials were
placed at our disposal in case we needed anything.
Bisk is the second largest town of the district, and
is situated on the junction of the Bia and Katoun,
which rivers unite to form the Ob a little further
down. The impression conveyed to my mind was
that of a large dirty village. It is the last town of
any importance before reaching- the Siberian frontier,
and is inhabited by many Russian merchants who
own the best houses and are well off, owing to their
successful trade in tea and furs. Of late years Sable
has become exceedingly scarce, but Marmots are
found in great numbers in the Altai Mountains, and
constitute a large source of revenue to these merchants,
who buy the skins of these animals by thousands at
a low price (10 to 20 kopecks each) and send them
through the Irbit annual fair to Europe, where they
are dyed and sold at great profit. Kalmuk natives
shoot these Marmots in a curious manner ; they go
out after them with a fox's brush, which they carry

46

AFTER WIT. I) SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

MARMOT HUNTING.

slung to their girdle. As soon as they see a Marmot
sitting outside its hole they begin to wave this
brush ; the Marmot from curiosity remains motion-
less, watching the peculiar proceedings, whilst the
hunter gradually approaches and shoots it at the
distance of a few yards. We saw large numbers
of these animals on the hills as well as of a smaller
kind of rodent — Mus citilus.

HOT SPRINGS 47

At Bisk we were most comfortably entertained at
one of the merchant's houses, and, though rather
tired, started early next morning for Ongudai. The
distance from Bisk to this village was about 220
versts, or 190 miles. By means of ferry-boats we
crossed the two tributaries of the Ob, Bia and
Katoun, without accident, and were soon trotting
along the steppes. We could now plainly dis-
tinguish ahead of us, through a dim blue haze, the
first outlines of the Altai peaks. At first the country
presented a similar appearance to that between
Barnaoul and Bisk, but as we approached the
mountains, woods began to appear on all sides,
principally cedar and larch. The villages we passed
bore the same aspect as those we had seen before.
Deep mud prevailed everywhere, especially at a place
called Bielokourikha, where in some places people
were unable to leave their houses in consequence
of it. There were said to be hot springs around
the village, and perhaps a mud bath might have
cured our aching limbs. Its curative powers at all
events had been tried by people from Tomsk, who,
we were told, had succeeded in getting rid of their
rheumatism.

We left this Siberian Franzensbad, however, after
a hard struggle, and succeeded in reaching a village

48 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

called Altaiskoie about 4 p.m., having covered eighty
long versts. We were now entering the mountains,
and although the Ispravnik warned us that we had
better spend the night here, there being- a difficult
pass to cross in the present state of the roads, and
a distance of fifty versts separated us from Tcherga,
where we intended to halt, we disregarded his advice,
and continued our journey. We were sorry after-
wards for our rashness. On leaving Altaiskoie, after
a quick change of horses, we began the ascent
through a small valley, overhung on either side
with rocky boulders. The country was well wooded
with larch, pine, and cedar, and at places we passed
large tracts of charred wood, giving evidence of
numerous fires. The advance was very slow, and
we soon found that we should have to grope our
way in the dark. Towards 9 p.m. the road grew
steeper as we began to ascend the Komar pass.
The road was swampy and very trying for the
horses, the mud in places being deep and sticky.
In addition to this it was a moonless night, and
our tarantass, though more comfortable, was a heavy
weight to drag. Thus heavily handicapped we soon
struggled behind, our friend the Ispravnik having
caught us up in the dark, on his lighter vehicle,
and gone on in front. Finally, at 1 1 p.m., our

A "MARALNIK" 49

horses refused to proceed further. The last jerk
aroused us from our pleasant slumber, to find our-
selves stuck half-way up a long muddy slope. It
was a cold night, and the rain began drizzling down
as our driver descended from his box, and told us
that unless we had fresh horses it was impossible
to advance further. Nothing was to be done but
to send him back to the village for men and horses,
and to await his return. In this piteous condition
we remained Jour hours, until about 3 a.m. we
welcomed our liberators, who after many efforts
dragged the tarantass out of this awkward hole.
Another hour brought us to the top of the pass,
where we met about thirty men on horseback sent
from Tcherga by the Ispravnik, who could not under-
stand what had happened to us. We reached the
village at 6 a.m. much exhausted after twenty hours'
driving, and took a well-earned rest. We had now
fairly penetrated the low Altai country.

In the afternoon we started for the next village,
Shebalina, distant about forty versts. Here the road
was infinitely better, the hills slightly higher, and the
scenery wilder, though presenting the same features.
We were installed in a nice clean house beloncrino-
to a Russian merchant trading in maral horns. Close
by was a large "maralnik," or enclosure for Maral,

5°

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

with a stream trickling down the grassy slope. Here
about 1,50. Maral, both stags and hinds, were con-
fined, enabling us to contemplate them at our leisure.
It was a sight worth seeing; these fine deer fed
quietly near us, and, knowing their master's call,
would gather round him and take bread and oats

DEKK PARK AT SHEBALINA.

from his hands. Some of the stags carried good
horns — in velvet at that time of year. The hinds
appeared tamer than the stags, which (as the
merchant told us) seemed to become wilder as the
time approached for the painful operation of cutting
the horns while in the velvet, generally towards the
middle of June. Some of the animals had been

A "MARALNIK

53

bred in the enclosure, others had been caught in
the woods, when young, by native Kalmuks with
dogs, in winter, when deep snows render this task
easier. The proprietor told us that one of these

MAKAI. HIND.

stags had sought freedom by clearing the seven-
foot wooden fence, and had remained several months
in the hills, returning eventually in the same sporting
way. There are many similar enclosures in the Altai
district, especially in the eastern parts, and statistics
show that about 6,000 deer are thus enclosed in

E 2

54 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

parks, constituting one of the most important trades
of the country with China. The stags' horns, while
still "in velvet," are sawn off before they reach
their full growth. For this purpose there is con-
structed in one corner of the park a small wooden
enclosure, with a narrow passage sunk in the ground
to a depth corresponding" to the animal's height. The
stag is driven into this until he can neither turn nor
move forward ; then a strong bar is fastened behind
his neck, so that he is entirely disabled, his head
alone appearing above the level of the ground. Idle
horns, having been cut off, are carefully dried and
sent to China, where they are sold at high |>rices.
An average head fetches from ioo to 120 roubles
(/,io to £12), at fifteen roubles per pound. Our
host told us that the largest sum obtained for one
pair of horns was 180 roubles. Naturally such a
price being a fortune for a wretched Kalmuk, the
Maral is becoming exterminated in the Altai, and
lately the Government has been taking strong
measures for the preservation of this magnificent
animal by strictly prohibiting" its being shot in the
district. Unfortunately the means of enforcing" this
law are very limited owing to the want of a
sufficient number of officials, and the wide extent
of this animal's range. As will appear later, we

MARAL HORNS 55

spent three weeks in search of it. Littledale saw-
only one fine stag during the whole time he was
in the country, and I only came across two hinds
and a couple of young stags.

In China they crush the horns into powder, which
is used as a medicine, mostly for women's diseases,
and I have been told that in rich Chinese families
there is scarcely any dowry that does not contain
"maral-horn powder." On our return journey we
met several caravans of this precious substance, and
our host himself had often been to Kobdo and
Uliassoutai with many pony loads of horns, the
latter towns being well - known markets for them.
A Maral park is a most profitable enterprise, en-
tailing very little expense. A tract of ground bought
or rented from the village at a low price, and the
cost of a wooden fence, represent all the capital one
has to put into the business.

We spent the night at Shebalina, and started at
6 a.m. next morning for Ongudai. We were glad
to hear from the merchant that the road was good,
a statement which proved to be correct, and that the
ninety remaining" versts would bring us early that
same evening to Ongudai.

Shortly after leaving the village we came to a very
steep ascent, but luckily it proved to be as short

56 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

as it was steep, and the horses carried us over
smartly. This was our last difficult pass, and the
road now led through a flat plateau with hills on
both sides. About thirty versts before reaching our
destination we entered the Kalmuk country. At one
of the last stations we were met by a deputation of
"pig-tailed" Kalmuks, who produced a written order
from the Ispravnik of Bisk to the local "dutchina"
(Kalmuk community) to give me every assistance
as regards shooting. They had accordingly prepared
a programme for the day : Roe-deer drives in the
morning, and fishing in the Tenga lake in the after-
noon. I thanked them, through our Ispravnik, for
the trouble they had taken ; but being anxious to
reach Ongudai, told them I would probably take
advantage of their proposals on my return journey.
The Kalmuks are a very hospitable race. Their
numbers, as I was told, are gradually decreasing in
the Altai, where, according to statistics, only six or
seven thousand remain. They are at a very low ebb
of civilisation, and worship spirits. Like Mongols
and Chinese, they shave their heads and wear pig-
tails. Those that have been christened by Russian
missionaries carry the usual head-dress. On the
whole, they are very indifferent to religion, and in
many cases some members of a family are converts

KALMUKS

57

to the Greek Church, while the others remain
heathen, such division creating no misunderstandings
whatever amongst them. They are mostly nomads

and live in "yourts," or felt-covered tents, with wicker
frames, which they shift from place to place accord-
ing to the time of year and the abundance of grass
available for their cattle. As regards their intelli-

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

gence, I can only say that I found them a good deal
inferior to the Kirghiz, who are usually clever and
cunning. The Kirghiz being Mohammedans, this
difference of religion may have contributed to this
result. The Kalmuks are governed by Zaissans, or
elected native chiefs (formerly hereditary chiefs of
tribes), who are responsible before the Government
for the periodical collection of taxes. Each Zaissan
rules over several "dutchinas," or communes, each
of whom in turn has a demitcha at the head of
affairs. The "dutchinas," or communes, have to
keep at their own expense a Russian official, or
clerk, who acts as secretary, and writes in Russian
all the necessary papers for the "dutchina." This
clerk gradually takes the whole of the commune into
his hands. Being entirely uncontrolled he writes
whatever- he chooses, and becomes ipso facto a petty
tyrant to the wretched Kalmuks, who live in constant
fear of him, and make him presents to avert his
wrath.

The Government official lives at Ongudai, and is
called Altaisky Zassedatel. At the time of our
visit this important post was held by a Mr. Meyer,
who seemed a very energetic gentleman. He
accompanied us to the Siberian frontier, and proved
most useful in procuring horses for us at Kosh-

KALMUKS

59

Agatch, and sending us provisions from Ongudai.
The Kalmuks dress in a very peculiar manner ; they
wear, winter and summer, a large sheepskin coat

KALMUK ZAISSAN.

confined round the body by a leather strap ; in
summer they let the upper part of it drop, thus going
about naked to the waist. Rich Kalmuks wear a
soft shirt underneath. A fur cap is their ordinary

ho AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

headgear, and long boots of soft leather, often of
a bright red colour, constitute their footgear. Some
Kalmuks are comparatively wealthy and own several
thousand horses. They feed on "koumiss," or fer-
mented mare's milk, from which also they distil a
feeble alcoholic beverage. Their language seemed
to me to resemble the Turki dialect, though a great
many words have nothing in common with the latter.
Thus good and\bad is Iakski and Taman; water, sou;
white and black, ak and kara ; rock, task ; but, on
the other hand, wind is salkhyn ; big horn, jahn muss,
which differs from the equivalent terms in Turki.
The name which the Kalmuks apply to a wild ram
(Kotckkor) bears no resemblance to the Kirghiz
Gultcka, but the ewes are known in both languages
as Arkhar. Thus the two dialects seem here and
there to fuse.

A few versts before reaching Ongudai we passed
the Tenga lake and saw a great many Cranes,
Ducks, and Brahminy Geese on the marshes round
it. Our Ispravnik told us at the station where
we halted that once, when a police official in the
district, he had been assaulted by 500 Kalmuks,
and had to seek refuge from them in a boat on
this very lake. The reason of this was that he
had been given orders to announce to the

ONGUDAI 61

Kalmuks a decree augmenting Government taxes.
This news was so unwelcome, and had rendered
them so furious, that they would have killed him if
he had not succeeded in escaping to Bisk.

The ground as we proceeded became sandy and
barren ; on either side of the road, which was now
in good order, were the same low hills covered with
larch and cedar woods, the latter being priceless for
the inhabitants, who, in autumn, gather large quan-
tities of cedar nuts and sell them to merchants who
come for that purpose.

On our way back we found most of the villages
empty, everyone being "in the cedars," as the few
peasants we met told us. At 4 p.m. we reached
Ongudai and found the Littledales in fairly good
quarters. As for us, rooms had been prepared in
a house belonging to a christened Kalmuk. The
baggage had arrived safely with Joseph and the cook,
and our next step was to secure ponies, saddle-bags,
and stores, such as potatoes, for sugar and flour had
been bought at Barnaoul. Here the road ended,
and henceforward everything had to be carried on
horseback.

Ongudai is a small village, surrounded on all
sides by hills, somewhat higher than those we had
passed on our way, and inhabited by a few Russian

62

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

officials, merchants, and converted Kalmuks. Here
I made acquaintance with Mr. Meyer, the chief police
official of the district. He told us that horses would
be ready on the following day, which was spent
entirely in inspecting the ponies and dividing the
packages in one month's stores, as we intended to

fc-

:j|y-| i '■'""'-■!

imsafttfg/£?\

THE LAST STATION.

leave the remaining supplies at Kosh-Agatch, sending
Joseph for them when needed. We also hired, for
three roubles a pair, from the natives a large number
of leather saddle-bags, into which we placed our
provisions. The ponies were carefully picked, espe-
cially our "mounts," and the start was fixed for the
morning of the following day, June 8th.

ONGUDAI 65

In the evening- we received a visit from the local
priest, Father Constantine. He had spent about
thirty years at Ongudai and in the Kalmuk country,
having been exiled to this place in his early days for
some political offence. He was most interesting in
his conversation, having thoroughly studied the Kal-
muks, their language and ways, and having converted
many to Christianity. He gave me a Russian-
Kalmuk dictionary which he had compiled himself,
and from which I extracted my available means of
conversation. He had crowned his studies by
marrying a Kalmuk girl, and was spending the few
years that were left to him in educating his wife
and father-in-law, who lived in his house.

The same evening we secured the services, for
twenty roubles a month, of a Russian, Nicholas by
name, who was to act as interpreter, and whom we
found useful in every emergency. A distance of
over 200 miles separated us yet from the Siberian
frontier — a distance which we covered in six days.
We started from Ongudai at 9 a.m. on the 8th of
June, on horseback. The ladies drove about twelve
miles in a cart, after which they also had to mount
the ponies which had been prepared for them.
Everyone said it would be impossible for ladies'
saddles to pass along the narrow Tchouia path, where

66 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the native women ride astride like men. We risked
it, however, and found it much easier than we
anticipated. The weather had become quite settled
again. Our caravan consisted of fifty pack and ten
mount ponies. Mr. Meyer accompanied us to the
frontier. Our first march (about thirty-five versts)
brought us about 4 p.m. to the banks of the river
Katoun, where we camped for the first time. The
current was very strong- here, especially in June, and
the river fairly broad. On our way we met several
stray Kalmuk "yourts." The sun was exceedingly hot,
and clouds of dust covered us as we trotted along the
path. We followed for some time the Urusoul River,
on which stands Ongudai. The aspect of the country
presented no perceptible change, and appeared to us
somewhat monotonous : the same rolling hills, the
same vegetation, the same trees, giving evidence of
occasional forest fires, probably caused by the care-
lessness of the Kalmuks. Our tents were soon
pitched on a grassy plain overlooking the Katoun.
A "yourt" had been put up for our friends, M. Meyer
and the Ispravnik, who both partook of our frugal
supper from the hands of Yassili, our cook. The
night was fresh, and it was freezing when we started
next morning.

Towards 6 a.m. we crossed the Katoun with our

CROSSING THE KATOUN

67

luggage on a raft. As for the ponies, they were
pushed into the river, and made to swim across. It
was a curious sight to watch them paddling away
in mid-stream and landing on the opposite side about
200 yards lower down. In the water they look twice
as lono- with their tails floating on the surface behind

CROSSING THE KATOUN.

them. This operation presented no difficulty, how-
ever, and it took hardly an hour to reload the ponies
and make a fresh start. We followed the river up
its right bank for some time, and here first made
acquaintance with the so-called "bomas," the dangers
of which had been so much exaggerated. This
curious term signifies a place where the path becomes

68 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

narrow and leads over steep rocks overhanging the
stream. ( )ur ponies seemed to be well accustomed
to this sort of climbing, and carried us through
without the slightest hitch ; as for the ladies, they
did not even dismount. We soon turned off to our
left and began ascending" a long steep slope leading
to the Saldjar pass (5,500 feet), from which we would
be able to distinguish the higher mountains in the
distance. At 1 p.m. we reached the "saddle," and
a beautiful view met our eyes. Snow-clad peaks
about a hundred miles off raised their lofty heads
against the light blue sky. The horizon was cloud-
less. To our right stood the grand, massive, snowy-
white Bialukha range, the highest in the Siberian
Altai, with glaciers streaming down its sides ; we
could just distinguish them with the help of our
glasses. To the left appeared the Kurai hills, like-
wise buried beneath eternal snow, below which flows
the Tchouia, and close to which lay our way to Kosh-
Agatch. Here we halted for some time, in order
to let the ponies rest. Round us were scattered
innumerable Alpine flowers and rhododendrons, to
which were tied bits of white and red ribbons. On
my inquiring the meaning of this, I was told that
this was the manner in which Kalmuks honour and
sacrifice to local spirits ; we afterwards found similar

KALMUK OFFERINGS 71

ribbons on almost every pass we crossed. A steep
descent awaited us. The heat was intolerable, and
the slow pace at which we were obliged to advance
was very trying. At 4 p.m. we reached the banks
of the river Inia, a small tributary of the Katoun,
where we pitched camp after a thirty-verst march.

^■H

1 " "IF*

- .

KALMUKS BETWEEN ONGUDAI AND KOSH-AGATCH.

Here we first came across Kalmuk offerings to their
gods. Two or three poles were put up in the middle
of a field, in a slanting position from the ground ;
at the end of these poles hung skins of horses and
goats ; the wretched animals had been torn to pieces
alive as a peace offering to the spirits. After two
trees are hewn down the animal is tied, his fore feet
to one and hind lees to the other, and the trees are

72

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

released. It was, indeed, a ghastly sight. Towards
evening the wind began blowing, and waving the

legs of the skins to and fro, gave them an appearance
of dancing at the end of long poles.

Early next morning we lifted camp, reaching the

KALMUK OFKERIN

junction of the Tchouia River and the Katoun at
about 10 a.m. We branched off up the former
river, which we now had to follow to Kosh-Agatch.
As we advanced, the country gradually grew wilder ;
here and there the river ran through narrow gorges,
and the path became more difficult for the horses.

AS WE ADVANCED, THE COUNTRY GREW WILDER.

TCHOUIA VALLEY

75

There were no more signs of villages ; only a few
" yourts " witnessed the presence of human beings,
and the occupants of these were so frightened at
the sight of us that they would rush off and hide
under the rocks until our caravan had passed. At

"waving the legs ok the skins to and fro."

4 p.m. we reached a place called Iodro, on the
banks of the Tchouia, where we camped for the
night, the ponies having had a march of forty
versts. Here the Ispravnik promised us a curious
sight. He sent for a Kalmuk priest who lived in
his yourt in the neighbourhood, and on the latter's

76

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

arrival with his officiating implements, ordered him
to perform before us. Kalmuks are greatly under
the influence of their priests or "kaams," who are
supposed to live in close communion with spirits
whom they invoke, and through whose power they
receive the gift of prophecy. The invocation or
" Kamlanie " which we witnessed that evening", as

KAI.MUK "YOUKT.

we sat in a circle round the kaam, consisted of
the following" strange display. The priest knelt
down, holding" up a tambourine on which was
roughly carved in wood a diabolical figure, repre-
senting the spirit he usually invoked ; from this
instrument depended a quantity of coloured ribbons,
similar to those we saw attached to bushes and
odd-shaped trees. When wishful to consult a spirit
the Kalmuks generally attach a bit of ribbon to

A GOOD OMEN 77

the kaam's tambourine, who then begins his per-
formance, ending- in his announcing an order from
the god to give him a horse, cow, or goat,
according as a particular animal in the Kalmuk's
possession has taken his fancy. This is supposed
to appease the spirit's wrath. Such is the constant
deception to which the wretched natives are sub-
jected. It was a strange sight to see the man
beating his tambourine, slowly at first, uttering
incomprehensible and savage sounds into the spirit's
ear, then louder and louder till he got into a state
of ecstasy, under the magic spell of his familiar
deity. Finally, he gave a loud yell, and I was
told that the spirit was ready to answer my
questions. I asked (of course through the in-
terpreter) whether I should kill many wild sheep ;
the reply came, in a hollow voice, that a " Kotchko "
(wild sheep) with white patches on him would be
hurled down a precipice. I took this as a g'ood
omen, and rewarded the old rascal with a couple
of roubles. Mr. Meyer told me that a few years
ago there were two well-known rival kaams in the
district, and that they once quarrelled on the question
whose spirit was the stronger. Both began invoking
their god in the manner just described. It was said
to have been an exciting scene, for they reached such

78 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

a pitch of exaltation after a few hours that one of
them fell senseless to the ground, and died shortly
afterwards. The other kaam was thereupon re-
garded as the conqueror, and crowds of Kalmuks
used to throng round his " yourt " to consult his spirit.
Kalmuks do not bury their dead, but place the
corpse on wooden planks strewn with branches,
where it is left at the disposal of vultures and
other animals of prey. Mongols consider it a
profanation of the soil to bury their dead, and
simply leave them on the spot where they died ;
they do not even allow bodies of Russian merchants
who happen to die in Mongolia to be buried, but
sometimes remove the corpse into Russian territory.
The Government has lately taken measures to prevent
this in the Altai, as well as the inhuman treatment
of animals ; but these ancient customs still prevail
in the remoter parts of the country.

We spent the whole of the following day (June
nth) in marching up the valley of the Tchouia,
whose muddy waters flowed rapidly beneath us.
Here also we had to pass frequent "bomas," which
rather delayed our journey, ponies refusing at places
to advance over the steep craggy path. We managed,
however, to reach our destination that night, after
having covered another fifty versts, and camped by

rASSING A "BOMA.

THE "KURAI STEPPE" Si

the side of a small tributary of the Tchouia, the
Tchibit. Here the scenery changed as we neared
the Kosh-Agatch plateau. The mountains grew
loftier on either side, and we could plainly dis-
tinguish snowy peaks in the distance.

Next day we made our customary start at 5 a.m.

Wf'-V jjtf^.'' ,,^^Jfc^^™

WB ■!£'' *

UI' THE VALLEY OF THE TCHOUIA.

The weather was much cooler, owing, probably, to
greater altitude. We now passed the " Kurai steppe,"
a plateau of about twelve miles in length, bordered
on our right hand by the Kurai snow-clad range
(Kuraiskie belki), which we had seen for the first
time from the crest of the Saldjar pass. The
mighty crags reared their lofty heads in the sky

82 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

just above us, as we followed, for several hours,

the path at their foot. That day 1 nearly fell a
victim to my vicious Kalmuk pony. As I was
dismounting, in order to tighten the girths of my
saddle, the horse suddenly kicked and bolted. I
was unable to disengage my foot from the stirrup,
owing to my nailed boots, and was dragged along
in the most awkward position some fifty yards,
when the brute luckily stopped. I got out of this
with severe bruises on head and arms.

We reached Kouickhtonar, the last camp before
Kosh-Agatch, towards 6 p.m., after a march of sixty
versts, or about forty-five miles. High mountains
surrounded us on all sides, and the Kalmuks all
asserted that there were many "bouns," i.e. Ibex
(Capra sibirica), in these hills. As we were chiefly
anxious, however, to make acquaintance with the
Wild Sheep, we decided to try for Ibex on our
return journey.

At 7 a.m. on June 13th we were again on the
move, and towards noon entered at last the Kosh-
Agatch plateau. The plateau is a wide steppe, a
little under 6,000 feet above the level of the sea,
stretching about sixty versts in length by forty in
width, bordered on all sides by fairly high moun-
tains, especially to the south and west. The river

SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS 83

Tchouia Hows through it together with several of its
smaller tributaries, of which the Tchagan-Burgaza
is the largest. Numerous lakes, ponds, and marshes
are scattered about on the steppe, and afford good
breeding-places for Swans, Geese, and Ducks of all

KOSH-AGATCH

kinds which swarmed there. It was here that I
thought I might get a chance to secure the duck
which Mr. Alpheraki was so eager to obtain. The
birds seemed very tame, and we passed quite close
to several lots. A couple of Swans only swam away
a few yards at our approach. The steppe over which
we were now advancing had probably been one huge

84 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

lake in former days ; a well-defined line along the
surrounding" hills some hundreds of feet above its
level seemed to be the ancient watermark, and
appeared to confirm this supposition. In fact, almost
all the mountains round Mongolian and Tibetan
plateaus bear this mark at different heights, denoting
the gradual drying-up of these regions. The ground
was sandy and barren with patches of alkali here
and there, and grass scarce, affording poor grazing'
for the ponies.

One could distinguish from afar the beds of
streams by the greener grass and a few shrubs
growing beside them. We now had a good view
of the hills to the south, where we expected to find
the glorious Wild Sheep, and were told that a couple
of days from Kosh-Agatch would bring- us to the
Promised Land. At 2 p.m. we found ourselves
opposite the few wooden huts which were to be our
destination, but the Tchouia had to be crossed ; so
near and yet so far, as there was no sign of a boat.
The river was broad, and no ford existed for miles
above, especially at this season of the year, when
rivers are generally swollen by melting snows.
Strange to say, Russian merchants have not yet
attempted to build a bridge at this place, though
tea caravans are becoming more and more frequent.

ZAISSAN SEMION 85

Owing to this want of bridges, goods are often
carried away and lost in the river. A small raft was
soon ready, the Ispravnik having warned us of the
difficulty, and sent orders in front to bring' down
to the river all the timber that could be found. Our
crossing was effected without accident. As for the
luggage, it was brought in late in the evening",
thoroughly damped. The village consists of a few
wooden buildings used as shelter for goods, of two
or three houses, one of which was inhabited by a
Russian Customs official, and of a small missionary
church. We were put up in a fair room. Weather
cold and rainy. The whole of the next day was
spent in drying our baggage and stores. The
custom-house yard presented a curious sight. It was
strewn all over with our wet clothes, bedding, rope,
flour, potatoes, salt — everything" drying in the sun,
which luckily peeped out at the right moment. Here
we made acquaintance with the Zaissan Semion, an
energetic Kalmuk chief, who had been summoned
by Mr. Meyer in order to superintend our expedition
in procuring for us the best horses he could muster
in the country, and the most reliable men. He was
a christened native, and a great deal above the
average of Kalmuk intelligence. As I have said
before, the Zaissan, the elected chief of a tribe, is

86 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

almost omnipotent in his district, and generally rules
over his subjects in a most arbitrary fashion, Govern-
ment control amounting to very little, and the in-
habitants being at the lowest possible decree of
civilisation, if such it may be called.

We were several times witnesses of punishments
inflicted on Kalmuks by the Zaissan's orders for slight

Mfcgi • %^fcL -^M

u

I'ATL'HINC HokSKs.

attempts at disobedience, and occasionally had to put
a stop to them. The usual mode of punishment con-
sists in flogging the wretched culprit in a most merci-
less way, till he sometimes loses consciousness. We
happened to be present at a milder example of this
performance on the following day, when the Zaissan
found one of the Kalmuks not helping to catch the
ponies for the start. He followed him on horseback

TAB A 87

sonic hundred yards, beating him as hard as he could
with his knotted whip. In the afternoon we sent
for the hunters. Four dismal creatures presented
themselves, stating- they were willing to accompany
us, and that they knew the ground up to the frontier.
We kept hearing the words " Kotchkor bar" which
our interpreter translated "There are wild sheep."
Taba was one of the four men. I was very anxious
to secure him, having been told that Major Cumber-
land had employed him the previous year, and had
found him exceedingly useful. We certainly all

PUNISHING A KALMUK.

88 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

agreed that he was by far the keenest and cleverest
of them all. Poor little fellow, I have lately heard
that he died soon after we left. He was as sharp
as a monkey, and kept urging us to take him to
Europe, where I am afraid he would have become

;om kosh-a<;a'i

a dreadful scoundrel, though in his own sphere he
was well enough, and at times witty and amusing.
He spoke a few words of English, which he used
to pronounce with his native accent, and nothing was
more funny than to hear him go through his short
vocabulary of the Anglo-Saxon dialect. Towards

DUCK SHOOTING 89

evening Littledale and I went out after ducks, and
brought back half a dozen Eared Grebes and a
couple of Geese. There were said to be Antelopes
(A. gittturosa) on the steppe, but we saw none. On
our way back, however, we came across large herds,
and shot a few. We settled for the prices with
our friend the Zaissan, allowing each man a rouble
a day with the promise of a small present at the end
of the journey. As for the ponies, we agreed at the
rate of 100 roubles for ten horses a month. They
all seemed quite content with this bargain, and we
decided to set forth on the following morning,
Zaissan Semion accompanying us to our first shooting
camp at two days' march from Kosh-Agatch.

- .

CHAPTER III.

Strut from Kosh-Agatch — Steppe — Camp — Up Tchagan-Burgaza Valley
— First sight of Wild Sheep — Kotchkor — Arkhar — Snow Bridge
— Pitching Camp — First Shooting Camp — Kalmuk Vocabulary —
Cold Nights— Stalks— The Happy Valley {Bain-Tchagan) — More
Stalks— Snow and Wind.

Haying concluded all our preparations at Kosh-
Agatch, dried our baggage, and placed two months'
stores under lock and key in the Customs warehouse
(taking with us provisions for a month), we started
at noon on June 15th. Early that morning the place
presented an unusual sight. Our Kalmuks, presided
over by the Zaissan, began catching the horses,
which were quartered in a large wooded enclosure,
with lassos, Littledale and myself picking out those
we considered the best. Although the natives were
skilful enough in the art of lassoing, this job took
a couple of hours, numerous misses being scored, and

after a miss the ponies having to be driven round
90

START FROM KOSH-AGATCH 91

again into the fatal corner, when the deadly noose
was to be hurled round the neck of the one we had
pointed out. Our baggage, ready to be loaded, was
scattered about on the ground round the enclosure,
and as soon as a horse was caught he was instantly
hobbled and converted into a pack-pony. Many
refused energetically this degrading work, and began
jumping and kicking for all they were worth till they
got rid of their unaccustomed burden. Renewed
trials often brought similar results, and the horse had
to be abandoned. All this delayed our departure
until midday, when at last success crowned our efforts.
1 must acknowledge that the very process of loading
seemed to be familiar to the Kalmuks, and was
carried through in a masterly way. Our interpreter,
Nicholas, was also thoroughly acquainted with the
job, probably owing to his practice with the numerous
caravans which pass through the country. I was
struck by this, in comparison with previous ex-
periences in other regions, the Caucasus, for instance,
where the art of loading a horse for a long march
and economising rope is far inferior.

We bade farewell to the Ispravnik and Mr. Meyer,
who both kept urging us not to cross the Mongolian

loo o

frontier, where, we were assured, our escort would
refuse to follow us, and began advancing slowly to-

92 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

wards the hills due south. Our caravan consisted of
our four selves (the Littledales, my wife, and myself),
Dr. Newsky, Cristo and Gabriel, Vassili the cook,
Joseph Abbas, and Nicholas the interpreter, fifty pack
and mount ponies, ten Kalmuks with a demitclia

.OADINC. A HORSE.

at their head, our four hunters, and the Zaissan
Semion. This was, indeed, an imposing party, more
likely to be destined for the conquest of China than
for shooting sheep. It was with sore hearts that we
gradually saw our numbers growing to such an extent,
but everyone seemed to be wanted, and we had to

OUR CAMP 93

put up with it. Our way lay through the Mat steppe
for about twenty miles, and, having started so late
in the day, we decided to pitch camp at the foot of
the hills. The sun was very warm, the ground dry
and barren. We passed several small lakes, and
soon found ourselves on the banks of the Tchagan-
Burgaza stream, which we followed up till the
evening. I was greatly struck by how one is de-
ceived by distances on those plateaus. The hills
seemed quite close at hand, and I could hardly
believe that twenty miles separated us from them.
However, as we took about five hours to reach our
destination, at the pace of about four miles an hour,
there could be no mistake. We camped that night
on the riverside, at a spot where the stream flows out
of a narrow valley, at the head of which we could
distinguish snowy peaks. Our Zaissan had brought
his tent with him, and we were interested in watching
the way in which he kept ordering his Kalmuks
about, to pitch his tent, prepare his food, etc., as he
lay quietly on his back indulging in pleasant dreams,
or sweet slumber. In fact, they paid much more
attention to him than they did to us, and I must own
that we sincerely hoped he would return home as
soon as possible, which he luckily did, though he
had been appointed to accompany us the whole

94

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

journey. It was in a welcome mood that we met him
next evening, as he explained to us that official duties
required his presence in his own district, and that he
would join us on our way back. He promised to
supply us every month with fresh ponies and men,
to which we readily agreed, especially with regard
to ponies, which, being unshod, would soon become
footsore with constant travelling over rocky ground,
and so be useless for our purpose.

Yakoub, the demitcha, who was practically our
caravan- baski, was a kind-hearted Kalmuk, rather
too weak to keep the men in good order and disci-
pline. He explained to us that it was most risky
to cross the frontier into Mongolia, and that our staff
would, in that case, strongly object and possibly
desert us. We thought he, too, was distinctly
opposed to quitting "his happy home," and left the
question open for the present. Early on the following-
morning, June 1 6th, we struck camp and entered the
valley of the Tchagan-Burgaza. The slopes on
either side grew steeper as we advanced, and the
ground barer. Here and there were to be seen
occasional clumps of fir trees, principally larch, and
by the river-bed rows of willow bushes. The path
led along the right bank of the stream, now and
then ascending the rocks and affording a heavy pull

"KOTCHKOR" AND "ARKHAR" 95

to the pack-ponies, at other times descending to the
very bottom of the valley. As we came to higher
ground we found the slopes covered with fine grass,
resembling Alpine pastures, and fauna similar to that
of the Alps, as far as I could judge. Here also
we came across horns and skulls of Wild Sheep
scattered about on the bed of the stream. Some
of them measured well, and made our hearts leap
as we entered at last the Ovis country. In fact,
Taba seemed to assure us that we would see a herd
or two on the slopes before evening. Towards 3 p.m.
we caught sight with our glasses of some specks just
below a high ridge on the opposite side. We made
them out to be ewes and young sheep quietly
grazing. There was an unusual movement among
the Kalmuks, who began pointing at the herd, and
the words Kotchkor and Arkhar predominated in
their lively conversation. As we came nearer the
light grey specks became more conspicuous. They
soon discovered our caravan ; all the heads were up
in a second, and a moment after the whole herd
trotted over the ridge. Unlike their Sardinian kins-
men, the ewes carried horns from ten to twelve
inches long, and their bodies were of course much
larger. We were very anxious to see the rams, but
unfortunately no other animals came in sight that day.

96 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

We passed many more horns lying on the ground,
some of which taped over fifty inches along the
curve and over eighteen in girth, and great were our
expectations for the morrow. At a place where the
path turned to the right we were obliged to cross the
stream over a large snow-bridge, which was now
melting fast. We could see the swollen river rushing
furiously underneath and gradually wearing away the
whole fabric. It was a dangerous crossing. Luckily,
the snow was just strong enough to carry the weight
of the ponies, and we all got over safely. The next
day a Kalmuk, who had been sent back for fuel,
found the bridge gone, and no more signs of snow.
A little beyond this spot the river made a sharp turn
westwards, and we now followed up its left bank for
a few miles till we reached a suitable camping place,
which, our hunters said, was to be the centre of our
shooting operations, and pitched our tents at a few
hundred yards from the stream, after a twenty-five
mile march. From here the country presented a
totally different aspect to what we had seen before.
We were camped on a small grassy tableland, sur-
rounded on all sides by hills. The valley of the
Tchagan-Burgaza here made a bend southwards ami
continued for a few miles to the sources of the stream,
enclosed between two craggy ridges, on which a good

"THE HAPPY VALLEY" 97

deal of snow was still left. A small torrent flowed
down from westwards close by our tents, whilst steep
rocks of a reddish hue closed in behind us from the
north. Eastwards flowed the main stream, effecting
its junction, a couple of miles down, with its tributary

M

HfcfL

^-jr-

frffr!-^,,.

j^-*~^ .

' V "'

A SNOW-BRIDG

the Bain-Tchagan, the latter flowing through a large
valley, with fine rocks and grassy slopes, which we
christened later on "The Happy Valley," on account
of the sport we obtained there ; the saddle at the
head of this valley was the Russo-Chinese divide.
Opposite our camp stood fairly high rolling hills,

c;S AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

which formed a marshy plateau, over which we used
to ride on our way to the " happy valley." The
ground was stony and barren, with patches of grass
here and there, and no trees were to be seen any-
where. One could not imagine a more favourable
country for the haunts of the glorious sheep, though
our actual camping- ground might have been better
chosen. Its altitude, according to my aneroid, was
7,800 feet above sea-level. The only fuel we could
get was Tezek, dry horsedung, which henceforward
was our main resource, and which our Kalmuks
used to gather all day and bring back in the large
leather bags we had hired at Ongudai.

We had taken a " yourt " with us, which was placed
at poor Vassili's disposal for the kitchen and his
cooking utensils. I must own his task was not an
easy one, though he never grumbled once, or showed
any sign of dissatisfaction. The weather was cloud-
less, and towards evening- the thermometer descended
below freezing point. That night I slept badly.
Visions of sheep kept constantly hovering round
me, and I was wide awake when Cristo came into
our tent at 3 a.m., as we had decided to start as
early as possible on our first field-day, hoping, if
fortune favoured, to find and stalk the rams while
they were enjoying their morning grass.

KALMUK VOCABULARY

99

After a frugal breakfast, consisting of porridge and
bacon, we drew lots, Littledale and I. Fortune gave
me the eastern side towards the Chinese frontier, whilst
Littledale got the ground north and west of camp.
We divided the hunters between us, each of us
taking two of them in order to try their capacities,

OUR KITCHKX.

and see if they would answer their purpose. I had
scribbled down on a piece of paper a hundred of
the most necessary Kalmuk words, so as to be able
to converse with my two companions, and very soon
got on friendly terms with them. It was still chilly
when we started, but from the look of the sky we
were entitled to expect a fine day. We crossed the

ioo AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

river, quite shallow here, on horseback, and rode
some way clown the stream, striking off to the right
at its junction with the Bain-Tchagan, and following
up the latter. Man)- old heads lay about on the
river-bed, betraying" at least former presence of
" Kotchkor." We came across quantities of Hares
and Marmots, which kept darting off in front of us
as we passed like shadows in the morning twilight.
No sound was to be heard save, now and then, the
shrill whistle of a Marmot regaining" its hole.

The Promised Land at last! It was with throbbing"
heart that I repeated to myself those two magic
words, though I still felt rather sceptical as to the
presence of old rams on the rolling hillocks, which
I could now plainly distinguish before us. We must
cross over into Mongolia, thought I, where hills
are higher, and the country wilder, to find the
old patriarch's haunts ; but my hunters seemed to
be confident of success, for they kept saying,
"Kotchkor ba" ("There are sheep"). Moreover,
Joseph, who was our principal guide, confirmed the
statement that Cumberland had found sheep in the
vicinity of camp, and had not considered it worth
while to cross the frontier at all. Fortunately I was
soon to be mistaken.

After a couple of hours' ride I discovered a herd

"HURRAH! KOTCHKOR!" 101

of ewes and young ones feeding on the slopes to my
right. They were about fifty in number, quietly grazing
uphill. We immediately dismounted, and having
hobbled the ponies, left them round a corner on the
river-bed. Here began a steep ascent for us. Keeping-
well out of sight of the herd, we made for a boulder
above us, from which I could command a good view
of the country. Just before reaching the top, as I
peeped cautiously over a ridge, my glass showed me
two or three specks on the opposite side of a wide
ravine, and in a second I made them out to be rams.
Hurrah! Kotchkor! I shall never forget this first
acquaintance with the grand Altai sheep as long as
I live. Although they had large, strong bodies, the
horns seemed to be their main bulk, and every part
of the beasts seemed to be concentrated in the
mighty heads they carried. They were feeding
slowly away, now and then lifting up suddenly their
massive sweeping horns, as if conscious of impending
danger, or was it to evoke admiration and respect
of other animals by their commanding beauty and
strength ? Then they would feed again, entirely
unsuspicious, showing their dark grey coats, with
patches of longer winter clothing on their backs
and withers, their lighter coloured rumps, Roman
nose, and leers. For some time I was lost in con-

:o2 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

templation, till one of my Kalmuks, who had squatted
down behind me, touched my arm and whispered,
"Adar kotchkor " ("Kill sheep"). This reminded
me of my object, and I decided to get above them
as quickly as possible, and wait till they fed into
favourable ground.

The wind appeared to be steady, so, leaving my
hunters, I started back in a crouching position, and
in an hour's fast walking got round to a place which
I thought was about 300 yards above the slope where
I had located the sheep. Here I advanced with the
utmost precaution, expecting to see my coveted prey
at every moment. But, alas ! there was no sign of
my animals. I began to think that they had dis-
covered either my men or myself, when on reaching
a ridge overlooking a narrow transversal gully there
they stood, the grand old fellows, within 1 20 yards
in front of me, half-way up the slope. Off went
my " Purdey " at the largest, which staggered, and,
recovering instantly, made off, followed by a dozen
others I had failed to see before, and which jumped
up like lightning". Again I fired at another, and
distinctly heard the fatal thud of my bullet into
flesh. They all disappeared, however, making me
feel dismally low. Reloading my rifle I was off in
a second at their heels, or rather some hundreds of

STALKING 103

yards behind, their pace equalling" that of the " Flying
Scotchman." Luckily for me several long snow-
patches lay across the slanting hillsides in the
direction they had taken, and this enabled me to
follow up their tracks for a good mile, till 1
reached a steep, rocky nullah, which, according" to
my observations, they must have crossed. At its
bottom flowed a precipitous torrent into the Bain-
Tchag'an, whose bed I could distinguish a long" way
below me. I was now fairly done, and sat down
to spy the opposite side. A faint hope of finding
my wounded rams in the ravine still remained, as
I had come across two distinct blood-tracks on my
way. On looking up there I saw the herd about
a mile above me, standing motionless on the sky-
line, but, to my great disappointment, saw no
staggerers behind ! My only chance was now to
inspect carefully the whole of the intervening ground
and every corner of the nullah. For a good half-
hour I peered into every recess, spied every ledge
of rock on the opposite side, but without result,
till I finally found a blood-stained stone, and follow-
ing with my glass the probable direction which the
ram must have taken, there I spotted him lying,
very sick, on a cornice just above the bottom of
the stream. "He is mine now," thought I, as I

io4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

scrambled noiselessly down amongst the crags ; but
my troubles were not yet over, for as I reached
a steep descent with rolling stones one of these
lost its balance and went crashing down the hill.
To my great disgust I saw the ram slowly get up,
look round two or three times, and walk away. I
was too far to shoot, so, making up my mind,
I darted down the slope as hard as I could tear,
filling my boots with earth and stones, and hoping
to get within range of the animal before he would
be out of sight. A few minutes brought me to the
place where he had lain down. I now found he
had crossed the stream, and was making his way
up the opposite side at a steady pace, which he
had probably increased owing to the noise I made
in my desperate rush. He was about 200 yards
from me in a straight line, and I saw that all would
be over if I did not take my chance then and there ;
so, placing myself in a comfortable position, and
putting up the 200 yards sight, 1 took a long aim
and, confident in my " Purdey," fired. The bullet
told, and down he rolled to the very bed of the stream,
stone dead. As I was on my way to have a look
at my well-earned prize I was startled by shouts
from above. There were my two Kalmuks stand-
ing on the ridge I had just left, waving their caps

TWO FINE HEADS 105

frantically, and pointing in the direction to their
right. I thought at first that this was their manner
of congratulating me, and that they had witnessed all
my proceedings, especially as I could not understand
a word they uttered. As they continued, however,
this wild mode of telegraphy, I began to think of
my other wounded beast, and on looking in the
direction they indicated, there, like a statue, stood
a beautiful old ram on an overhanging ledge of rock.
He had evidently discovered me, for he kept staring
intently down on the place where I stood ; then he
would turn his head up slowly and watch the hunters.
There was no possible hiding, so I simply followed
up the bottom of the nullah within full sight of the
animal, which, curiously enough, never moved an inch
till 1 got within 150 yards of him, and, taking a
steady aim, shot him through the heart. He also
rolled down the cliffs and stuck on a crag, from
which I dragged him down by his horns. I im-
mediately saw he was the largest of the two. My
first bullet had shattered his hind-quarters to pieces,
and he had probably been bleeding so hard that he
had no more strength to move. The measurements
of the two heads were the following : —

Length along curve.

Girth.

Tip to tip.

:hes . 52

19

39

. 49-*- ...

in ■

• 33*

io6 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

My two hunters came down presently, and seemed
to be greatly rejoiced at the day's success. They
kept saying " J akshi " ("Well done"), "Jahn Muss"
("large horn"), and engaged in a wild conversation
between each other, which I was at a loss to under-
stand. I could hardly judge of their hunting
capacities by this first experience, though I was
now able to assert that they both possessed good
eyesight. We sat down to lunch close by the
stream, after having dragged the two dead sheep
to a comfortable spot. Their size was about that
of a Scotch red-deer hind, and I should say they
measured nearly four feet at the shoulders. Their
coats were of a darkish brown colour, with patches
of long thick hair, darker than the rest — remains
of their winter coating. Their legs and rumps
were of a lighter colour, and, as we grallocked
them, I found they were exceedingly lean. We
left the bodies, taking only the heads and skins
with us, which my Kalmuks tied to their saddles,
intending to send back later on for the meat. It
was a difficult scramble down for the ponies, which
one of the men had gone to fetch and had recklessly
brought down, the stones at the bottom of the gully
rolling away at every moment from under their feet.

When we reached the main stream below, we found

THE HAPPY VALLEY 107

ourselves at the entrance of a beautiful valley, en-
closed between steep grassy slopes and rocky pinnacles
above, bearing every quality of sheep ground. Out
of it flowed the Bain-Tchagan River. At the very
entrance of this valley stood several lower buttress-
like hillocks, which seemed to afford capital stalking
ground. At the head of it, a few miles off, I could
just discern a fairly high pass, which, as my hunters
told me, was on the very frontier of Mongolia. This
was the " Happy Valley " I have before mentioned.
Later on neither Littledale nor myself hardly ever
returned from the place empty - handed. Seeing
no more signs of sheep, I decided to return to
camp, though it was only about midday, but quite
satisfied with my first day's work. We followed
down the stream to the spot where we had left the
horses, and covering the same ground as in the
morning, reached the tents towards 2 p.m. Here
the ladies welcomed us heartily, as they caught
sight of my trophies. Littledale soon came in with
Taba and his other hunter from the opposite direction,
and what was our amazement when we saw five heads
hung to their saddles ! We had evidently struck a
golden vein. Two of his trophies measured well.
He had come across a large herd of rams who had
failed to locate the first shot, and had thus afforded

io8 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

him several chances of which he had availed himself.
Seven animals the first day seemed promising for
the future, and merry was our dinner that night as
we gave the ladies an account of our experiences.
We had both found the sheep at an altitude of about
9,000 feet, and had each only seen one lot of rams,
though probabilities were great that the surrounding-
country was a favourite resort of theirs. We decided
to acquire a thorough knowledge of our ground
before crossing into Mongolia, and started on the
following morning, June 18th, at 3 a.m., Littledale
going in the direction westwards, where a long-
valley, with steep crags on either side, led towards
the Tarkhaty River, whilst I was to follow up the
main Tchagan - Burgaza stream from camp to its
sources. It was still pitch dark when we mounted
our steeds, but the sky was again cloudless, and
there was every prospect of fine weather. We
crossed the river, my hunters and I, and trotting
along up the bed of the stream for a good hour,
soon began spying both sides. On our way we
saw several pairs of Brahminy Geese, which we
startled out of the rocks where they were breeding.
Animal life seemed very scarce. Two or three
Eagles soared over our heads, and it was only to-
wards 6 a.m. that I saw a herd of four ewes feeding

A HERD OF TWENTY

iog

on the slopes above us to our left. Further on
another herd of twenty head came in view, but
again they were ewes and young" ones. At noon
we had not found a single ram, clouds were gathering

OUR FIRST DAY S BAG.

fast from the west, and a strong wind began blow-
ing. \Ye could see the snow get up and turn in
whirlwinds on the tops, and Taba, who accompanied
me, seemed to think that there was no good to be
done that day. We went on, however, spying care-
fully, and reached the sources of the river. The

no AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

country was wild and desolate. Now and then
we would come across fine pasture grounds with
rich grass, such as one meets on the Pamir steppes,
and dark green patches here and there denoting-
marshy grounds, which our ponies would persistently
avoid. Fine rocks suggestive of Ibex now stood on
all sides, but not a sign of a beast anywhere. In
the afternoon we returned to camp rather disgusted,
especially after the previous day's success, and
Littledale soon came in with a similar report. He
had found several herds of ewes and Ibex, and
had seen a couple of Maral hinds, but of the stronger
sex there was no trace. This was indeed an ewe
day ! Our minds were now turned towards the
Mongolian side, which we thought the old rams
mioht have chosen for their summer resort, though
we decided to have a more careful survey of the
surrounding country before shifting camp into the
unknown.

We were up at 3 a.m., as usual, on the following
morning, but found heavy clouds rolling in the sky,
and a strong south-west wind blowing. The barometer
was low, so we thought it was no use going out. At
6 a.m. all the ground round our tents was under
snow, several inches thick, and the wind turned into
a gale, raging furiously the whole day. This was

BITTERLY COLD m

a most disappointing waste of time, and we felt
highly disheartened as we sat under our canvas,
which was, at every moment, on the verge of being
torn to pieces, or carried off by the sweeping gusts
of the hurricane. It was bitterly cold too, and all
our warmer outfit was badly wanted.

OUR CAMP UNDER SNOW.

By evening the snow round the camp had melted,
but the storm still raged, lasting all night, and as
we got up at 3 a.m. the wind was still blowing
steadily from the west. The cold was intense and
the ground frozen hard. In hopes of finding sheep
at a lower altitude we decided to have a try, and

ii2 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

started accordingly. My lot fell upon the country
eastwards, up the Bain - Tchagan stream, where I
had secured my first two trophies. Taba came
with me this time, and kept assuring me that such
weather was far more favourable for approaching
sheep, the latter being' less on their guard, and
altogether less suspicious. We rode a couple of
hours without seeing anything, till we reached the
small buttresses at the entrance of the Happy
Valley ; here I spied a herd of ewes feeding quite
low down on the slopes opposite. The wind seemed
very shifty, and I felt rather glad they were not
rams, for it would have been quite impossible to
approach them. Here we dismounted, leaving the
ponies hobbled on the river-bed.

Taba seemed confident we should find more
sheep up the valley, and soon pointed out some-
thing moving about 400 yards in front of us. As
I put up my glasses the beasts moved into a dip.
" Kotchkor ba, arkhar ba?" I asked him. " Belbess "
was his answer, ("I do not know"). So we advanced
cautiously, crawling at times, and chancing the
wind. On reaching a small saddle, there stood two
old ewes amongst some rocks at a few yards from
where we lay. By extraordinary luck they had
not winded us. Back wre went on all - fours in

A GOOD STALK 113

order not to disturb them, and, making a long
detour, continued up the main valley, where we soon
caught sight of another lot of ewes, who this time
had evidently got our wind, for they suddenly all
lifted up their heads and galloped away, disappear-
ing over a boulder. As I watched them make off
my Zeiss distinctly spotted a fair ram among them.
1 thought they might not go far, as they could not
have actually seen us, and decided to wait till they
settled down again. Taba seemed to share my
opinion, and after a short halt off we started in
their direction, following up the narrow ravines be-
tween the low rolling hillocks, and carefully choosing
the best hiding-places. The wind here blew in our
faces, and the rocky pinnacles with small ridges
joining them afforded capital stalking, if only the
sheep had not shifted to higher slopes. We were
cautiously advancing in this manner, like Red-Indians
on the war-trail, inspecting every corner of ground
below us from every crag we came across on our
way, when finally Taba, who had gone on to my
right in order to look over an intervening ridge,
suddenly took off his cap and beckoned to me to
come. So I crept up to where he lay motionless,
and peeping over a ledge of rock caught sight of
a fine old ram, quietly enjoying his morning siesta

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

4^

ENJOYING HIS MORNING SIESTA."

and chewing his cud, about eighty yards below us.
Others were probably indulging in a similar process
further down, but I could only see the one animal,
and was unable to resist temptation. Moreover,
as I was at comparatively close quarters and the
wind being strong, he might suspect something at
every moment, and dash off without giving me a
chance. Feeling sufficient excuse, I took a steady
aim and fired. The beast rolled over dead, and,
as I expected, other rams jumped up from under
the rocks and were out of sight in a second, the

PASS INTO MONGOLIA 115

ground presenting a sheer dip at that place. They
all appeared again several hundred yards beneath
us and crossed the stream, making for the opposite
side. I counted eighteen altogether, as I watched
them climbing up the left slopes of the nullah.
They presently joined with a herd of ewes, and
continued in one lot up the hill. Some of the
rams carried beautiful heads, though the one I
had bagged seemed as good as any of them. Un-
luckily, owing to the conformation of the ground,
I had failed to get a second shot. I found my
animal had rolled down some way, and had been
stopped by his horns catching on a ledge of rock.
I taped them on the spot; they measured 55 inches
along the curve by 17^ inches girth, 39^ inches from
tip to tip. As my hunters grallocked him, I sat
down to watch the herd that had now halted half-way
up the slopes and were examining our proceedings
with the utmost curiosity, but, scared as they were,
they soon trotted away and disappeared over the
main ridge. As for us, we continued up the valley
with the intention of finding a favourable pass into
Mongolia, none of our Kalmuks having ever passed
the frontier.

As we advanced, the valley became narrower and
rocks more frequent ; as for the dividing saddle, it

nG AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

seemed to me impossible to attempt crossing it with
pack-ponies, though I could only judge from a distance
of some miles, there being no time to inspect the place
thoroughly that day. On our way we came across
numerous horns of Maral (Cervus canadensis asiaticus
or Ccrvus eustephanus) that had been evidently shed
many years before, white and weather-worn as they
appeared. My hunters told me that the country
abounded in Maral ten or twelve years ago, but that
they had nearly all been shot for the sake of their
precious antlers, and that the few that remained had
taken refuge in the wooded districts on the Siberian
side. We also saw a great number of sheep horns in
the bed of the stream, whose owners had probably
been killed by wolves, or had been starved to death
by severe winters and heavy snowfalls. The country
bore altogether a touch of wildness and desolation.
Towards noon we were caught in a dreadful hail-
storm, and returned to camp at 3 p.m. with my
well - deserved trophy. I found Littledale in low
spirits ; his hunters had taken him by mistake to
my ground, and he had convinced himself of the
error by discovering our party as we were entering
the Happy Valley.

That evening Vassili, the cook, produced for
dinner roast fillet of kotc/ikor, which we found

A FRESH START

117

excellent. As for the broth, it was quite good, and
henceforward replaced Maggi's cousommd, which we
had been constantly using. Later on in the season,
when the animals became fatter, we had to abandon
their meat, owing to their strong sheepy flavour, for

RETURNING TO CAMP.

that of their domestic kinsmen, where stray Kirghiz
procured us the latter. On the following morning,
June 21st, the wind had not abated, and it was not
till 7 a.m. that we left camp. This time Littledale
went towards my old nullah where I had twice been
successful. As for myself, I started with Taba in
the direction of the valley westwards. It was

n8 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

certainly not a promising day, and we rode a long
way without even expecting to see anything. The
valley was a wider one than that of Bain-Tchagan,
with more overhanging crags on either side and
no nice boulders with fresh grass between. At the
bottom flowed a small, nameless stream, forming
here and there small lakes and swamps. We spied
an immense side-corry to our left, but saw nothing
but rocks and snow. A little further I discovered
a herd of female Ibex on the opposite side, probably
the same which Littledale had seen two days pre-
viously, but no signs of males ; in fact, the place
did not in the least appeal to my imagination as
being likely ground for sheep. There wrere no
rolling hills with suitable pastures, and, should we
have found game, it would have been a difficult job
to approach it. At a spot where a long gully came
down to the main valley I spied a large herd of sheep,
apparently all ewes, far above us. Further on we
crossed a low divide, and followed down another
stream for two or three miles till another herd came
in sight some 800 yards in front of us, feeding down
at the foot of the right slopes. My telescope soon
told me that they too were ewes, together with what
seemed to me to be fair rams, though 1 was unable
to distinguish them well owing to the bad light.

A LARGE HERD OF SHEEP, APPARENTLY ALL EWES."

AN UNSUCCESSFUL STALK 121

Taba thought they were worth approaching, so we
dismounted, and began making our plans for the
stalk. There was no question of continuing down
the valley towards them, there being no possible
hiding. The only way was to ascend a steep hill
to our right, follow the ridge, and come down the

THE HAPPY VALLEY.

nearest lateral ravine to a place which I considered
was about 200 yards from where they fed. The
wind, I thought, blew uphill, so off we started, with
Taba's approval. We left the ponies with my other
hunter, who was to keep a sharp look-out over the
movements of the animals, and signal to us in case
they shifted to other ground. It was fated, how-

122 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

ever, that the day was not to prove a success. The
ascent was dreadfully steep, and it took us a good
hour and a half to get near the summit. In the
meantime heavy clouds had been gathering, and the
wind blew stronger every moment as we struggled
up the precipitous cliffs. Presently light became
more and more dim and a regular blizzard came on,
covering us up with snow. In less than five minutes
everything was white around us, and the cold so
intense that we were nearly frozen as we lay amongst
the rocks waiting for the storm to pass. In this
dilemma Taba suggested that we had better go back
to lower ground, there seeming to be no chance of
the weather clearing up that day. Go back ! This
was easier said than done. The descent at places
had to be worked backwards on all-fours. Moreover,
such was the force of the gale that we had to cling
hard to the rocks in order not to be blown off our
feet ; snow and hail simply blinded us, preventing
us from securing a firm foothold on the few pro-
truding ledges. We took a couple of hours to reach
the horses, and that only thanks to Taba's skill, who
somehow succeeded in groping his way down in
absolute darkness. We returned to camp half frozen
and thoroughly drenched. As for Littledale, he had
failed in his stalk owing to uncertain wind, but had

A STORM

123

managed to kill a young sheep, whose meat he had
brought back for the pot. These constant gales
from the west lasted during almost the whole week
we spent at this camp. I must own that we were
pitched most unfavourably with regard to this ;

yvtf

WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS.

sweeping gusts would come down the narrow gully
westwards and meet those from the main valley just
at the place where we had camped, thus joining on
our housetops from two different directions. This
and other considerations prompted us strongly to
shift camp into Mongolia, where, moreover, we

i24 AFTER WILD SJIEEP IN THE ALTAI

hoped to come across unmolested herds of old
rams on higher ground. But a pass had to be
found for the pack-horses, and our Kalmuks either
knew nothing" about the country over the frontier,
or, if they had been in Chinese territory, which was
doubtful, would in no way help us in the matter,
fearing" that their horses would be stolen by stray
Kirghiz or Mongol nomadic tribes.

In this uncertainty we decided, Littledale and
I, to start together on the following morning", June
22nd, towards the head of the Happy Valley, with
the intention of seeing for ourselves if an easy pass
could be discovered. Before entering the nullah,
Littledale branched off to the left, where hills seemed
lower and the ground more suitable for our purpose,
whilst I was to reconnoitre the head of the Bain-
Tchagan valley and see if the pass was as inhos-
pitable for unshod hoofs as it appeared to be from
a distance. But my exploring designs were soon to
be checked by sight of game, for as we approached
the well-known buttresses I spied a ram feeding
a few hundred yards to our left. YYe quickly dis-
mounted, and leaving the horses in a small hollow,
made a long detour to get above the animal ; but the
wind, as usual, was shifty, and when I found myself
within what 1 thought was 1 50 yards of my prey,

A FINE HERD 125

the beast had already become slightly suspicious and
was moving slowly away. I had to take a hurried
shot, resulting in a clean miss. " Never mind," said
confident little Taba, " we will find others further
up." In fact, I had hardly reloaded my rifle when
more sheep walked into view by the bed of the
stream. To my amazement, they had not been
frightened by the report of my shot, and were busily
engaged in their early breakfast. Unfortunately
they proved to be ewes and young ones. They
were feeding towards us, on our very way to the
happy hunting grounds, and cutting us off from the
coveted direction. We had no end of trouble in
avoiding discovery, and had to go round a couple
of miles, crawling now and then in full sight of
them. We managed, however, to get round with-
out disturbing them, and resumed our journey up
the valley under cover of my favourite boulders.
We had not gone far when Taba suddenly stopped
me, pointing towards the river-bed below us. There
lay a fine herd of fifteen sheep, all rams this time.
There was no possible approach to within less than
500 yards from the spot they had chosen for their
siesta, so we crouched down and waited. I had now
entirely abandoned my good intentions of making
myself useful by finding a favourable pass over the

126

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

frontier, and devoted all my attention to the mighty
old sheep beneath us. I must acknowledge this
weakness, but the sight of the quarry was too

WATCHING.

tempting. Should the animals shift a couple of
hundred yards towards us I felt sure of success,
and the heads some of them carried were well worth
trying for. We had not been an hour watching
them when, to my joy, they all got up one after

GREATLY DISAPPOINTED 129

the other, and crossed the stream in our direction.
Taba had foretold this, saying that the grazing was
better on our side. For some time we lay low, till
the whole herd disappeared below us ; then we
rushed down, hiding behind every rock, and pre-
sently found ourselves within 250 yards of the
animals, whom we now saw feeding on the slopes
under us. I was just on the point of starting
towards a small pinnacle, writhin easy rifle range of
the herd, when I noticed that they all of a sudden
had become suspicious. A whiff of wind had pro-
bably reached them, and in an instant they were
off, making back to the opposite side. Cruel luck,
thought I, as I lowered my -303 and fired at the
nearest one. It was a long shot, but the chance had
to be taken. He staggered for a moment, then con-
tinued with the others. As they crossed the stream
at full gallop I fired several more shots into the
midst of the herd — there being no question of picking-
out the largest — and saw one of them fall, whilst two
others remained behind the main bulk, struggling
up the steep slopes and looking very sick. We
waited a little, marking the direction taken by the
two wounded ones, and started as soon as they had
gone over a ridge. I was greatly disappointed when
I came up to the dead beast, though I felt I had only

130 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

got what I deserved by " pumping the lead in " in
such a reckless manner. His measurements were
35 inches along the curve by 17 girth. Taba
grallocked him on the spot, whilst I followed the
other two with hopes of a better result. On reaching
the ridge where we had seen them last, after a steep
scramble, I found one of the beasts lying dead on
the opposite bank of a deep ravine ; the third was
nowhere to be seen. So I continued along a pre-
cipitous slope, covered with rolling stones. I could
see the blood-tracks here and there, but was unable
to judge whether they belonged to the dead one,
or to the animal I was still following. To my
disgust, a hail-storm came on at that exciting moment
of the chase, but I was not going to be beaten.
Taba now came up, and soon spotted my beast lying
on the stones about 200 yards off, with his head
towards us. We crouched down and lay motionless
for about twenty minutes, which seemed two long
hours to me. There was no hiding-place round
us, and as I was trying to creep up nearer to finish
him, the brute saw me and started off. By this time
I was fairly soaked by the snow, which had by now-
turned into sleet, and thought of abandoning further
pursuit ; but Taba was as keen as ever, and we
continued on the slippery rocks for some time straight

SNOW AND WIND 131

uphill. A good hour brought us to the head of
the side- valley. Here we found our wounded fellow
again lying half-way up the slope. I made a
desperate scramble to get above him, and shot him
through the heart just as he was preparing to make
off. The two carried average heads : 48^ by 1 j\
and 39 by 17 inches. I returned to camp with my
light trophies, exhausted, in a regular blizzard.
Littledale had come back, saying he had seen no
sheep, but had come across easy ground for the
ponies to cross into Mongolia. He had gone out
again up the main valley, and presently returned with
the report that he had wounded the finest ram he
had as yet seen, but that he had been unable to
follow the blood-tracks owing to their having been
covered up with snow, which now lay thick round
our tents. As for the wind, it still blew as strong

CHAPTER IV.

Last days on the Tchagan-Burgaza — Pass over the Frontier— Shift
Camp into Mongolia — A Blizzard — Major Cumberland's Camp —
The Start— Map unreliable- Meet Chinese— Great numbers of
Sheep Heads — Karaoul Suok — Chinese Governor — Passports —
Chinese Officials — Interpreters — Joseph returns with fresh Stores-
Start for Bain-Khairkhan Hills.

On the morning of June 23rd the weather had not

changed in our favour. We had decided to shift

camp over the low pass north of the Happy Valley,

and everything had been prepared for the start.

Unfortunately no long march could be undertaken

that day, and it was agreed that we should wait for a

better chance. Though dark clouds covered the sky

and the wind blew persistently, Littledale went out at

4 a.m. with hopes of coming across his wounded ram,

whose pursuit he had had to abandon on the previous

day, and whose tracks he had lost owing to the heavy

snowfall. As for myself, I thought it hardly worth

while to attempt a stalk, and remained in bed.

Towards noon, the weather clearing up, we went out,

my wife and I, with our smooth-bores after Willow
132

A HERD OF RAMS 133

Grouse around the camp. We found some in the
neighbourhood, and brought back a brace. These
grouse were not shy, and kept running before us even
after the shot. Littledale returned at 6 p.m. with
the head of a fair ram, which he had secured out
of a herd of ten, probably the same herd he had spied
before on the slopes of the main valley. He had
failed to find any sign of the wounded one, and I
was astonished that he got anything at all, con-
sidering the gale that never ceased blowing all day.

On the following day, the weather not being settled
enough for shifting camp, and my wife being very
keen to see the wild sheep in their haunts, we started
together as early as possible in the direction of the
Happy Valley, taking with us Taba and another
hunter. Littledale had kindly conceded to me the
monopoly of Taba, who was undoubtedly the best
man we had, contenting himself with Lepet, whom
he considered next best. We crossed the same
ground well known to me, and as we were following
up the bed of the stream a herd of rams, about sixteen
in number, came into view. They had lain clown
a mile ahead of us in a place which we could not
possibly approach. The buttresses at the entrance of
the nullah were too distant, and further advance was
impracticable, for the animals had full command of the

i34 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

lower ground. We therefore turned back in order
to make a detour round a boulder to our left, and,
keeping under cover, followed up a ridge, which joined
eventually with the right slopes of the valley. This
strategical operation took about an hour and a half
to perform, there being deep stony gullies on the way,
which presented a series of obstacles to our wretched
horses. Finally we got on grass again, and having
dismounted, managed to reach some rocks, from which
we could plainly see the herd, about 500 yards off,
lying on the river-bed. I never imagined that the
spot where we now found ourselves was to be our
observatory for the next eight hours. Taba as usual
kept repeating that the sheep were sure to move
in our direction as soon as they commenced feeding,
the grazing on our side being better. No further
advance was possible, so we settled down at 8 a.m.,
watching our quarry with the telescope, which I had
firmly fixed between two ledges of rock for my wife
to have a good view of the sheep. She was highly
interested in their proceedings, and said that there
were three first-class old rams amongst them, ten
average-sized heads and three young ones, which
statement I readily confirmed. It was quite probable
that this was the herd out of which I had secured
three on the 22nd, and which we now found almost

GALLOPED OFF

137

exactly in the same place ; moreover, it was as likely
that they would choose, according to previous
experience, the slopes beneath us for their evening-
meal, which fact would greatly facilitate our work.
We therefore eagerly waited for the animals to get

up and afford us amusement. But fate had decided
otherwise. At 10 a.m., just as we were picking-
out the one which we thought would constitute a
worthy trophy, up they all jumped, scared without any
apparent cause, and galloped off towards the opposite
slopes. For some time we could not make out what

i38 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

had frightened them in this manner, when, on looking
down the valley, there was one of our Kalmuks
with two ponies ascending the hill in full view !
If he had been nearer at that moment I really think
I should have wilfully mistaken him for a kotcJikor !
Taba also showed signs of fury in his peculiar way.
He explained to us that this was the hunter who
had been sent from camp to bring the meat of the
sheep killed by Littledale on the previous clay. Not-
withstanding all the exhortations given him to take
the greatest precautions, and by no means to start
before evening, he had been tired of waiting, and in
this reckless way had spoilt our chance. And this
was one of our hunters ! Great was our consternation
and disappointment. Nothing, however, could be
done ; so we kept watching the herd, and decided
to wait in hope of seeing the animals come down
again in the afternoon. We saw them stop half-way
up the hill and settle down on the slopes. To stalk
them where they now lay meant certain failure, to
say nothing of three or four hours' hard climbing.
Unfortunately our expectations were all to be baffled
that day. Nothing would induce the sheep to shift
their quarters again in our direction, though we
persevered in our crouching position till 4 p.m.,
suffering acutely from "pins and needles." Finally

UNWILLING KALMUKS 139

we gave it up, thoroughly disgusted, and returned
to camp under the scornful looks of the rams, which
did not even honour us by getting up as we departed.
At 6 p.m. we were under canvas again, indulging
in a roast fillet of sheep which had caused us many
a bitter hour. Littledale had also been unsuccessful,
and it was decided that we should under no pretext
whatever "linger any longer," but shift camp on the
following day across the frontier. On June 25th,
after a stay of eight days, we finally quitted our
first hunting grounds for the unknown Mongolian
plateaux in search of fortune. The start was to
take place as early as possible, but it was not till
9 a.m. that the ponies were loaded, a desperate
chase after several stray ones having lasted not less
than three hours. Our Kalmuks being extremely
unwilling to visit foreign countries, lazy in ordinary
times, accentuated as much as they could this defect
of theirs. Poor Yakoub, the demitcha, was at a loss
to enforce his orders, and, though several incidents
occurred in which the whip played a great part, it
was principally owing to the energetic demonstrations
of Nicholas, Cristo, and Gabriel that we eventually
formed anything like a caravan. We started down
the main river, and, crossing it, began following up
one of the small tributaries of the Bain-Tchagan

i4o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

stream in a south-easterly direction. I rode in front
with the ladies, whilst Littledale stayed behind in
order to see that the pack-ponies were not led back
to Kosh-Agatch and home, as our Kalmuks so
eagerly desired. As we advanced in slow procession,
the hills seemed to become lower, excepting due
south of us, where the Happy Valley, parallel
to which we were now going, was concealed from
view by the towering ridges and peaks on either
side of it. Around us were low, grassy, rolling
boulders, with small ordinary ravines, probably the
winter resorts of sheep ; for, though we saw none,
many skulls and horns strewed the ground on our
way. The slopes were covered with lovely spring-
flowers, such as crocuses, buttercups, and Edelweiss.
Towards 1 1 a.m. we were caught in a hailstorm
which lasted an hour, and eventually turned into
rain. As we were entirely ignorant of our way, I
halted with the ladies at a place where someone
had evidently camped, in order to wait for Littledale
and the rest of our caravan. Taba presently galloped
up, and explained to us that he had spent a fortnight
the year before on this very spot with Major Cumber-
land ; he also gave us the good news that the pack-
ponies were following up at a short distance. Towards
noon we were in sight of the dividing pass at the

TREACHEROUS SOIL 141

head of the small valley along which we were
marching. A long slanting slope still separated us
from Chinese territory, and the pass appeared to
be easily negotiable for the horses. Another hour
brought us to the top. Here we were met by a
strong gale blowing in our faces and sweeping
furiously along the dreary plateau before us. The
hills in the foreground were of no great height,
but we could distinguish in the dim background
the snow - clad mountain peaks of the Mongolian
Altai. We now stood at an altitude of about 9,000
feet ; in front of us lay a marshy tableland, which
we had to cross in order to reach a valley running
eastward, under whose slopes we hoped to find
shelter from the tiresome cold wind, as well as a
suitable place for pitching camp. Unfortunately
this plateau proved by no means light work for
the horses, for it consisted of patches of grass
intermingled with shingle, soaked through either
by freshly melted snow or by springs, thus afford-
ing no resistance to our horses' feet, who sank knee-
deep at every moment into the treacherous soil. I
say treacherous because to all appearance it was
perfectly firm and safe. There was no avoiding
it, however, and it took us a long time to get over
the swamps. As for the pack -ponies behind, I

142 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

cannot conceive how they managed with their
heavy loads to overcome the difficulty. This first
acquaintance with China was hardly a satisfactory
one, and we felt entitled to hope that the discovery
of undisturbed herds of sheep would amply make
up for it. The ladies, who had been placed under
my care, were persistently confident of success, and
greatly contributed to uphold the level of cheerful-
ness through the hardships of this first march into
unknown country. They proved most useful more-
over in finding a favourable spot for camp as we
reached the valley, through which flowed a small
stream known on my forty-verst Russian map as
the Boro - Burgassy, whilst I stood on a ridge
watching our caravan struggling through the marsh,
and signalling to Littledale in order to let him
know the direction which was to be taken. I must
own that the map, which had hitherto been our
principal guide, now seemed hardly reliable, and
this became more and more evident as we advanced
into Mongolia. The stream on the banks of which
we camped was known to the natives under an en-
tirely different name. It flowed into the Suok
River, one of the tributaries of the Kobdo, in
whose watershed we now found ourselves. I cannot
pass unnoticed the way in which Mongols christen

RIVER NOMENCLATURE 143

their rivers. These are divided into two classes
according to the colour of their water. If it is
clear, the stream is called Kara- sou (black water) ;
if dirty or milky, Ak-soti or Tchagan-sou (white
water). These two rubrics include nearly every
river. The spot chosen for our camp was quite a
comfortable one, close to the stream, and sheltered
by the left bank from the bitterly cold wind. Patches
of snow here and there reminded us of the fairly
high altitude (about 8,800 feet). East and north
of us were low rolling boulders, whilst towering"
snowy summits glistened in the distance. We could
locate the Happy Valley by a long ridge of crags
a few miles off, now due westwards. This rocky
spine extended eastwards for several miles, sinking
gradually lower into grassy hillocks down to the
Suok River, into which flowed the stream on whose
banks we were now camped.

The night was a very frosty one, and when Cristo
came in to wake me up on the following morning
(June 26th) at 3 a.m. I found it very trying to get
out of my blankets. During the night a pack of
wolves had attacked some of our ponies and scared
them to such an extent that our Kalmuks found it
a difficult job to secure them. Some of the horses
had unhobbled themselves, and travelled great dis-

144 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

tances towards our last camp. This delayed our
start until about 5 a.m., when we finally managed
to muster the steeds we required. The ground al-
lotted to me lay due south, whilst Littledale got
the Happy Valley, which he would now have to
enter from the Chinese side, over the pass we had
failed to reconnoitre previously. The weather seemed
to have cleared up again, and it was in the best of
spirits that I left camp with Taba in order to visit
"fresh fields and pastures new." We rode some
time before reaching likely sheep ground. About
an hour brought us to a small lake surrounded by
higher crests of hills ; on its shores lay quantities
of sheep horns, though none of them were of great
size. On the slopes of loose red shingle round it
we found transverse paths and numerous tracks of
game. We were now exploring entirely new ground,
where my guide Taba had never been, but it struck
me that this was, according to all probabilities, a
winter resort of sheep, for it was low and sheltered
from the bitter north wind. A stiff climb over
rolling stones now awaited the ponies, and we finally
attained a ridge from which we were able to spy
the opposite slopes of a long deep nullah running-
eastwards, and affording- splendid grazing, conse-
quently a most likely spot for the sheep's morning

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A CURIOUS ASPECT 147

meal. My glass soon confirmed our suppositions.
Seven sheep were feeding quietly on the other side of
the valley ; Taba, who was using my telescope, said,
" Kitchinek kotckkor" which meant "Young rams,"
a highly disappointing statement, which was never-
theless correct. It was a herd of two and three year
old animals, together with some ewes, at first un-
noticed. We immediately left the ponies in charge
of "the understudy" and started off as cautiously
as possible, Taba and myself, towards the next ridge
in order to get a good view of the far side of the
valley. Unfortunately there was no hiding, and the
rams presently caught sight of us, and darted off,
followed by a troop of ewes, which jumped up from
some lateral ravine. When we found ourselves on
the opposite crest an hour later we of course did
not expect to see anything in the valley we had
just crossed, but began spying the grounds beyond.
The sun was now high and exceedingly hot. The
country before us presented a curious aspect of low
volcanic-shaped hillocks ; the soil was arid and red.
I could distinguish Suok River in the distance,
flowing through a wide steppe, and on the other
side, due south of us, stood a higher range, which
my map showed me to be the " Bain-Khairkhan "
hills. Several fine-lookine corries in that direction

i48 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

seemed to promise happy hunting grounds, and
patches of snow here and there gave me the im-
pression of the right altitude for sheep at that time
of year. Eastwards ran the main ridge of the
Mongolian Altai with its lofty peaks of everlasting
snow. I thought it was hardly worth while to visit
the lower boulders beneath us, when Taba suddenly
squatted down and pointed out a couple of rams
some 800 yards below. They were making their
way up from the dry rocky ground towards the
pastures above. As they were advancing slowly,
and seemed to carry very fair horns, we decided to
try and cut them off from the higher ground. A
steep ridge ran down from where we lay, both sides
of which were covered with loose shingle ; so we
ran down the slope, under cover of this ridge, as
fast as we could lay our feet to the ground, till we
reached a saddle, which we expected the animals
would cross. Had they done so at that moment I
certainly should have been unable to shoot, for the
pace at which we had gone rendered me breathless
for the next five minutes. We waited some time,
and, seeing no sign of the sheep, moved cautiously
over the ridge commanding a view of the whole
corrie. Though we spied every ledge of rock as
carefully as we could there was not a beast in sight.

TABA AT A LOSS

>4<>

The wind had been favourable during our manoeuvres,
and Taba was at a loss to find a clue to the mystery.
Many tracks and droppings showed us that the place
was by no means uninhabited by sheep, though the
dryness of the soil seemed to render it unattractive

"WE RAN
DOWN THE SLOPE.

i5o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

to them. A long climb back now awaited us. It
took us about an hour under a tropical sun to cover
the distance which had taken us ten minutes downhill.
I know nothing more disappointing" than a climb back
after an unsuccessful stalk, and I daresay that every
sportsman will share the feelings I experienced.
Taba gave me, as usual, a bit of his mind in English ;
poor little fellow, he was the keenest hunter I ever
came across.

We reached the spot from which we had sighted
the two vanished rams, and on halting in order to
inspect the other corries I spied a herd of six sheep
in the distance, about a mile lower down. "Taba,
Kotchka^ said I. " lok" that is, "No," was the
answer ; "djeran" as he carefully replaced the telescope
on the grass. Now djeran is a term I have often
heard in the Caucasus and in Asia. In the former the
natives use it to express either Chamois or Antelope ;
in the eastern Russian steppes Kalmuks and Kirghiz
apply it to the Saiga antelope, the same for Russian
Turkestan, where both the Saiga and the Antilope
guthwosa are to be found. I therefore concluded
that we were in the presence of antelope, but being
too far off was unable to identify the animals. Later
on, during our return journey, we came across large
herds of Antilope guttiirosa on the Kosh-Agatch plain,

THE SAIGA 151

and secured several. Littledale was very anxious to
know if the habitat of the Saiga extended as far east
as Mongolia, and being keen to shoot one, made it
a point to cross-examine our Kalmuks on the subject
on our return to camp ; but no useful information was
to be got from them, although we did our best to
describe the Saiga, drawing their attention to the
swelling on the beast's nose. I hardly think that the
Saiga exists in Mongolia, and suppose that the
animals we saw must have been Antilope gutturosa.
Seeing that there was no sport to be obtained on
the low ground, I suggested to Taba that we might
try the hills to the westward, and spend the remainder
of the day in inspecting the numerous corries outside
the Happy Valley, where Littledale was at work.
So we struck a ridge, and in a couple of hours found
ourselves at an elevation of about 11,000 feet on
a stony plateau commanding a view over a large
stretch of rocky country, with stiff walls of grim-
looking crags on every side, and broad slides of
snow running down the steep ravines. A basin of
hills, two or three miles in diameter, especially
attracted my attention owing to the occasional
patches of bright green fresh grass scattered over
it — a likely place for sheep. I accordingly sat down
to spy, and soon discovered a herd of rams feeding

1 52 AFTER WILT) SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

slowly up the opposite slopes. Neither Taba nor I
could distinguish the size of their horns, nor estimate
at that distance the feasibility of a stalk. We
decided, however, unanimously to try our fortune,
and started downhill without delay, neither of us
knowing anything- about the ground, and trusting in
Providence to get safely back to camp. Taba led
the way over the rocks and loose shingle, and though
we went at a good pace we took over an hour to
reach the bottom of the valley.

My companion's primitive leather mocassins scored
off my best nailed shooting boots on these stones, and
after many a fall I finally found myself in the bed of a
dried-up stream. Taba's movements and wonderful
agility struck me here for the first time ; he would jump
from one rock to another, alight on a sharp edge,
stand motionless for some time where a Chamois would
hesitate, performing marvellous feats of equilibrium.
The force of gravitation seemed to have no effect
on him, and I found it a difficult job to follow him
over the steep, broken ground.

Another half- hour brought us to a ridge within
400 yards of the sheep, and my disappointment was
great when I saw before me eight rams, all four or
five years old, but not one of them worth a shot.

"Kitchinek" (" small "), whispered Taba. " Yes,"

START FOR THE HAPPY VALLEY 153

thought I, "and we are a long way from our dinner."
We watched the animals feed over a boulder, and
started in the direction of camp. Here again Taba
showed himself equal to his task, and we were within
sight of the tents just as it was getting dark, after
a hard three hours' pull. Littledale was back. He
had failed to approach two fine old rams owing to
shifty wind, so that we had neither of us taken our
rifles out of their covers. At dinner we held council
with the ladies, and decided to send one of our men
to the nearest Chinese post, or " karaoul" in order to
secure, if possible, a guide acquainted with the country
beyond, none of our Kalmuks having ever crossed the
Siberian frontier. Moreover, the day's result having
shown that our grounds were not promising for sport,
and as we had both sighted a fine-looking range of
hills to the south, which seemed to correspond on our
map with the Bain-Khairkhan range, we thought it
advisable to shift camp as soon as possible, or rather
as soon as the Chinese officials would condescend to
supply us with the guide we had sent for. But we
could not expect him within two or three days, a delay
which had to be endured, and which we spent in
revisiting our old grounds.

On the following morning, June 27th, I started
early, at 3.30 a.m., towards the Happy Valley,

i.S4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

Littledale taking the country I had tried the previous
day. It was a lovely morning". During the night
there had been a hard frost, and when I woke up I
found the water frozen in our tent. Unfortunately
the stove was of no avail, owing to the scarcity, or
rather to the quality, of the fuel, which consisted
of dried, horse or camel-dung, native tezek, the smoke
of which would have rendered our home entirely un-
inhabitable. I may mention that the poor cook,
Vassili, was in despair for the same reason, our roast
kotchkor usually bearing a strong smell of tezek smoke.
It took us a long time to reach the entrance to the
valley, our ponies stumbling over the marshy table-
land we had to cross, and only found ourselves
among the well-known buttresses at 6.30. Taba had
been conceded to me for the day, Littledale having
taken out with him a hunter named Lepet, who,
though he was subject to eye-soreness, yet could see
as well as any man on our planet, and discover game
where telescopes seemed useless. I left my "second-
horse man" in charge of the ponies, and started up
the nullah with Taba. We followed the bed of the
stream for some time, examining carefully the slopes
on either side, and stopping now and then to spy the
lateral ravines, at the bottom of which the wily old
rams enjoy their siesta, but there were no signs of

A HOPELESS ERRAND 155

sheep till we had gone almost half-way up the valley.
At this stage, just as we had passed a sharp turning,
a lot of about fifteen rams came into sight some 500
yards ahead of us. Unfortunately the wind kept
blowing steadily in our backs, and there was no
means of making a dttour without being; discovered.
So we both lay down, and waited in the hope
that fate might alter the direction of the wind.
Naturally it did nothing of the sort, and as we
crawled along the stones we saw the whole herd
get up, cross the stream, and trot up the opposite
slope, till they all disappeared over the last ridge.
I watched them the whole way with my glass, and
found that two or three of them would have been
most satisfactory trophies. We were now at a loss
how to proceed, for the wind kept blowing up the
valley, and there was no time that day for a circuit,
which would have taken us five or six hours to
make. So we continued on our hopeless errand,
quite prepared to see any sheep that might still be
in front of us speed mercilessly away, when Taba
suddenly stopped me, pointing towards a small grassy
boulder, some 800 yards ahead of us. It stood at
the very junction of the two streams forming the main
river, which divided up two narrow rocky gullies. I
crouched down, and soon found that we were in the

r56 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

presence of another lot of fifteen rams, but could
not tell whether they carried good heads or not. In
any case it was probably my last chance for the
day ; so I beckoned to Taba to follow me down to the
bed of the river, whose banks at this place were
fairly steep, and, as I thought, might afford hiding
for another few hundred yards. In five minutes we
were out of sight of the herd, and found as I had
expected that we might advance in this manner by
keeping as close as possible to the right bank of the
stream. In places we were obliged, in order to keep
under cover, to wade knee-deep in icy-cold water ; in
others we had to crawl over the stones in full sight of
the sheep, but happily only for a few seconds, till
another slope hid us from view. The wind was still
wrong, nevertheless I hoped that we might get within
shot before the rams suspected anything, as they were
some way above us. We soon found ourselves within
400 yards of them, but here ended the protective
slopes, and we could advance no further without
being discovered. I took out my " Zeiss " to examine
the herd from behind the last corner, and found that
several of the beasts were quite shootable, though
none of them carried first-class heads. They were
quietly grazing towards us, and I could see no other
solution of the dilemma than to wait on the chance

A TREACHEROUS WHIFF 157

of their coming within shot. I explained my design
to 1 aba as best I could, but was met with a sceptical
look from my companion, and the laconic answer,
" Salkhyn yaman" which meant "Wind bad." I was
just thinking that the little man was perhaps right,
and that we might be scented at any moment, when
I saw him make up his mind and creep on in full
view, carrying off my precious rifle. I could but
follow him.

All went right for a hundred yards or so. We
crouched motionless every two or three steps, watch-
ing the sheep with one eye, and with the other picking
out the next large stone for a halting-place. At last
a treacherous whiff brought them the forebodings of
danger, and suddenly lifting their heads they all began
gazing intently in our direction. No time was to be
lost. Putting up the 200-yards sight, and taking a
hurried aim at the one which I took to be the oldest
ram, I fired, and to my greatest surprise saw him

staoorer for a second. A moment after he had dis-
00

appeared with the others over the nearest ridge.
They gave me, however, a second chance — though a
poor one, I must own — and the result was a broken
hind leg for one of the smaller rams.

Taba now wanted to follow them up immediately,
but I thought it wiser to wait, and not frighten the

158 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

one I considered I had wounded, in which case he
would separate from his companions, and probably-
lay down in some neighbouring ravine, where we
might stalk him again. So I caught my hunter by
his coat, and forcing him to sit clown by my side,
tried to explain my intentions to the little man,
who kept repeating " Baalou iok "-— which meant
" Not wounded." Evidently his idea was to get
another shot at the animals by making a dash to the
ridge over which they had gone ; this would have
brought me to the place breathless and panting,
entirely unfit to take aim. Moreover, he had not
noticed the result of my first shot. In the mean-
while, as I sat low, the herd came in sight about
a mile in front of us, making up a steep slope of
shingle, and I found that its number had now in-
creased to over thirty. Behind came my three-legged
youngster, who was struggling hard to keep up with
the others. My rifle had awakened the rumbling
echoes of the valley, and several lots of ewes were
galloping furiously up different slopes.

When they had all disappeared from view, and calm
was re-established, we started slowly up the grassy
bank towards the place where our sheep had been
feeding, and to my dismay found no blood - tracks
whatever. My companion's triumphant look seemed

THE WOUNDED RAM 159

to repeat "Baalou iok" though I must acknowledge
that he did his best to prove he was wrong. I felt
quite humbled at that moment, and was the first to
give up the search for invisible blood-tracks.

Calling him away, we made for a small stream and
sat down to lunch. Of course our thoughts turned
upon the mess I had made of the whole business, and
I believe we hardly uttered a word, when Taba, who
was perpetually on the qui vive and constantly looking
round about him, pointed up a narrow gulley which
led down to the place where we sat. I could only
distinguish stones piled up one over the other, and
presently spotted one which seemed more yellow than
the others, about 300 yards off. Up went my " Zeiss,"
followed by an exclamation, " Kotckkor /" The tide
had turned, and this time the triumphant looks were
on my side. We had been quietly sitting for the last
half-hour in full view of my wounded ram, nearly
within shot of him ! The brute was lying on the
stones with his head towards us, evidently very sick.
I loaded my rifle and was off in a second up the bed
of the torrent, hiding where I could. But the animal
was not dead yet, and as I was about to fire, got up
slowly and started away. I ran on as fast as my legs
could carry me, just in time to see him disappear
round a boulder. Naturally my two shots were of no

i6o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

avail in the heat of the chase and breathless as I was.
Again I followed on over the rolling- stones. Luckily
the banks were steep on either side, and the beast
could only go along the bed of the stream. This
headlong pursuit lasted about an hour, and it was not
till I reached the very top of the gully that I saw my
ram slacken his pace and lie down. Heavy loss of
blood had greatly weakened him, and I can hardly tell
which of the two was the most exhausted when at last
I finished him at close quarters. His horns taped fairly
well, the following being the measurements : Length
along curve, 46 in. ; girth at base, i8f in. ; spread, 2 5 in.
My first shot had smashed his thigh and entered
the stomach. Absence of blood from such wounds
produced by small-bore bullets is a great disadvantage,
and has caused me to lose many an animal before now.
Taba proceeded to grallock him, whilst 1 went back
to fetch the ponies, whom we had left a long way
down the nullah.

I found my second hunter, who rejoiced in the
pleasant-sounding name of Takhua, fast asleep and
the horses gone. He brought them back, however,
after an hour's search, and we started towards the
dead sheep. Taba had already cut up the animal,
so we loaded the ponies with the meat, which was
badly wanted for the kitchen, sending Takhua

THE COLD INTENSE 161

straight to camp with our well-earned quarry. As
for ourselves, we started up a small river in the
direction of home, and crossing a pass reached the
tents at 6 p.m. without having seen any more game
that day. Littledale, as I expected, had found nothing
but young rams and arkhar, i.e. ewes.

Taking advantage of the weather, the ladies had
been busy washing and drying linen the whole
morning. In the afternoon they had gathered
flowers round camp, pressing them in the numerous
halfpenny novels we had brought out with us for
the journey. June 28th was an off-day for me.
There had been a hard frost during the night, and
a bitterly cold north wind was blowing when Cristo
came in to wake me up at 6 a.m. Feeling very
tired from the previous day's exertions, I decided
to remain in bed, especially as the new ground
eastward did not promise to yield sport. More-
over, we intended to send Joseph to fetch more
stores from Kosh-Aoatch, and I thought I might
usefully spend the afternoon in writing letters.
Littledale had started off at an early hour. No
news had come from the Chinese post, and we
eagerly expected our messenger with the guide he
was to bring back with him. All day the cold
was intense. Our Kalmuks were constantly ordered

M

i62 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

about by the demitcha to gather tezek, our only fuel,
in the large leather bags that had been lent to us
at Ongudai ; unfortunately the precious stuff was
damp, owing to a heavy snowstorm that came on,
and there was more smoke than warmth to be ob-
tained from it. Roast mutton was out of the
question that day, and we had to content ourselves
with tinned tongue and sardines. Towards evening
Littledale came in with a fair head, saying he had
wounded another and a much finer ram, but had
been unable to follow up his tracks in the storm.
The following day brought no change in the weather ;
my barometer kept low, and a regular gale blew from
the west. Nevertheless I went out at 8 a.m., return-
ing to camp drenched and half frozen late in the
afternoon, having seen but three ewes and a couple
of marmots. Joseph had started for Kosh-Agatch
with four ponies, letters and instructions to catch us
up either at the Karaoul Suok, or at the foot of the
Bain-Khairkhan range, which we next intended to
try for Ovis Amnion. The ladies, having lit their
candles to warm themselves, never left their tents
during the whole day. Littledale somehow managed
to discover his wounded animal's trail, and brought
in a most satisfactory head, measuring 18^ inches
in «> irth. There beine still no news from the

A LAST CHANCE

163

karaoul, we all decided to have one more day's
outing" at that place, and, in the event of no one
coming to our relief, to continue our march east-
wards and interview the Chinese official ourselves,
using my Russian survey map as our only guide.

A DAYS REST.

I went out accordingly at daybreak next morning,
taking with me Taba and one of the other hunters.
The night had been very cold and the weather
was quite settled again. I intended to give our
old ground a last deciding chance, and to make
my way as far as possible in a south-western direc-

i64 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

tion, so as to get well behind the Happy Valley.
There was a large tract of country which neither
of us had yet explored, and it was quite probable
that the sheep, frightened by our frequent visits to
the main nullah, might have shifted their quarters
over the ridge southwards, where a great number
of ravines would afford the old rams the shelter
they badly required. We therefore crossed without
dismounting, or even spying the two broad valleys
which I had visited on the 26th, and where I had
only come across young rams and ewes (arkkar),
and it was not before we had ridden for three good
hours that I considered myself on the regular war-
path, and began to advance cautiously. We now
found ourselves on a small tableland, at an altitude
of about 9,000 feet, under the southern ridge of
the Happy Valley, and the long stretches of snow,
melting fast under the sun's powerful rays, con-
verted the gravelly soil into muddy swamps ; our
ponies, incapable of much exertion, soon refused to
work. Leaving them to the care of my Kalmuk
gillie, I went on with Taba, and presently sat down
to spy. Numerous stony corries lay before us, with
patches of fine grass below, and small streams
trickling along the bottom into the Suok Valley.
A herd of sheep soon came into sight ; they were

UNSUCCESSFUL TRIALS 165

mostly ewes, feeding on the slopes of a deep ravine
some 800 yards below us. Two or three rams
amongst them seemed to promise very fair trophies.
These had evidently finished their meal, and were
slumbering in the open whilst their spouses kept
watch. At first I decided that they must be young
rams, the larger ones generally keeping apart from
arkhar at that time of year, and I was about
abandoning them, when my shikari said they were
Yan kotchkor (big rams), which statement my
telescope soon confirmed. Little Taba was seldom
mistaken in his judgment ! Unhappily, the un-
dulating slopes, over which we advanced on all-
fours, soon broke into an abrupt descent, and pre-
vented further concealment. We crawled back
accordingly, and, making a long dttoiir, tried to
stalk them from another side ; but here again we
were stopped by the fiat stretch of grass leading-
straight down to the herd. Some of the ewes
had fed up towards us in the meantime, and con-
siderably interfered with our approach. Moreover,
the wind veered round in a most dangerous way.
After several unsuccessful trials to get nearer from
other directions, I finally convinced myself that the
only way was to lay low and wait, in case they
might come towards us later on in the day or feed

1 66 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

into easier ground. As I examined the rams more
closely, they showed far better heads than I had
thought at first, and I was busy taping them
mentally, when towards 1.30 they lazily got up one
after the other, slowly stretching themselves, and,
shaking their bodies, started feeding uphill. This
was a good omen. They kept advancing steadily,
looking up now and again, ever on the alert. At
this stage Taba suggested that we should shift our
positions, as the sheep were heading to our left.
So we crawled back silently out of view, and striking
across a slope of loose shingle squatted down some
two hundred yards lower, in a small depression, where
a grassy plot in front of me presented a capital rest
for my rifle. Here we both lay flat on our stomachs
and waited. Presently the rams came up within
range, and carefully drawing a bead on the largest
I let go. The thud so well known to the sportsman's
ear answered instantaneously ; the animal staggered
for a moment, but picking himself up trotted away.
The other two rams, strange to say, abandoning the
rest of the herd which pelted away downhill, ran
straight up towards us — and here in my excitement
1 fired two shots at sixty yards, resulting in two clean
misses. There was no time for reloading again, for
they soon popped over a ridge and disappeared. I

A BROADSIDE SHOT 167

was very sick at this performance, but as I felt sure
of having hit the first ram, I rushed off, closely
followed by Taba, in the direction he had taken.
We soon found blood. The tracks led up for some
time along the slope, but as we reached the foot
of a small col dividing the two corries we could
find no more red -stained blades of grass to direct
us. Now was the dilemma ; had he managed to
scramble over the ridge, or, being unable to do so,
gone down to the bottom of the valley ? I con-
sulted Taba, who was disposed to favour the latter
alternative ; but this meant at least four hours of
considerable toiling with a doubtful issue, and our
camp was now many miles off. I chose the ridge,
and great was my delight when from the top of
it I caught sight of my ram lying on the edge of
a snow-drift, some 300 yards below me! But he
was still alive. Creeping down stealthily in full
sight of him I succeeded in going another hundred
yards before he noticed my approach, and as I was
about to fire, he got up slowly and gave me a
broadside shot as he stood in the snow. Off went
my Purdey, dropping him stone dead in his tracks.
As I had expected, I found him to tape well, the
horn measurements being 52 inches along the curve,
19 inches girth, and 38 inches spread. Taba pro-

1 68 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

ceeded to cut off his valuable head, which we now
carried by turns up the precipitous slopes. The
meat was left to the vultures, the place being
entirely out of the reach of ponies. A couple
of hours brought us to the high plateau where
the horses awaited us. We now made for camp,
as daylight was failing fast, and heartily greeted
the sight of our tents at 7 p.m. On our way
back Taba said that he had counted at least forty
ewes (arkkar) and about twenty rams (kotchkor) in
the herd we had come across. In the skirmish I
had failed to count the deserters.

I found the ladies in high spirits. The evening
was so warm that we all dined out of doors, discussing
the clay's events, and the important question of the
morrow's start. Littledale had had bad luck, and
brought in only a small head. On the following
morning, July 1st, our camp presented a most lively
aspect. Cristo, Gabriel, our Russian interpreter
Nicholas, and all our Kalmuks were busy at work
from 6 a.m. loading the ponies, pulling down the
tents, and preparing everything for the start. Our
demitcha, Yakoub, though a thorough gentleman of his
kind, was not up to his mission. He kept ordering
his men about, but these obeyed reluctantly, and we
had to depend almost entirely on our servants and

SKULLS OF SHEEP 169

Taba, who made himself useful all round. We were
off at 9 a.m., but the packs did not start till 1 1.

According to the map the Chinese karaoul lay
about ten miles due south, but we soon found that
it was much further than we had expected, so did
the horses, for it was not until 3 p.m. that we caught
sight of the Kha's yourts (Kha is the title given
to the Governor of a karaoul), after a march of about
twenty-five versts (sixteen miles). Our route led
down the Boro-Burgassy Valley almost the whole
way. The country was rocky and barren. Pre-
cipitous cliffs with grassy tablelands above stood up
on either side, growing gradually lower as we
advanced, and turning eventually into an undulating
steppe, through which, a few miles beyond the karaoul,
flows the Suok River. That day we came across
numerous skulls of sheep strewing the ground, and
now and again piled up in heaps, for what purpose
we could not imagine. Perhaps they were meant
as an offering to the gods, corresponding to the
coloured ribbons hanging on trees in the Kalmuk
region. None of these heads were worth picking up.
We spied several ewes on the surrounding slopes,
but saw no rams. The weather was lovely, the sun
scorching hot, and I believe this was the warmest
march we had during the entire trip. A few miles

i7o

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

before reaching the karaoul we were met by half
a dozen Chinamen on horseback, all in the most
picturesque costumes. We understood that they had
been sent by the head official, or Kha, to welcome
us in Chinese territory. They wore sheepskin-lined
coats of different colours, by no means tight-fitting

SKULLS OF SHEEP TILED UP IN HEAPS.

breeches entering into Russian leather embroidered
top-boots with turned-up points at the toes, and
various-shaped caps, over which coral beads denoted
their respective ranks in Chinese hierarchy. One of
these men, who appeared to be in command, wore
a silver belt around his waist with numerous trinkets
attached to it, such as a pipe-case, a small box, a

THE "KARAOUL" 171

bit of flint, etc., all silver mounted. This belt was
destined later on to form the subject of long and
unsuccessful bargaining between the Littledales and its
owner. The others also carried belts of lesser value.
Their rifles, slung on their shoulders, were primitive
flint-locks. The length of their pig-tails was also in
proportion to their rank. Naturally our conversation
was of the briefest description, though I several times
put questions about kotchkor, of which they seemed
to be entirely ignorant. We now soon reached the
karaoul. It consisted of a few yotirts scattered here
and there along the banks of the stream. At the
further end of the village stood a more respectable-
looking yourt, surrounded by a wooden palisade,
into which were stuck several red and yellow flags.
This was the Kha's palace. We decided to pitch our
camp some two hundred yards away from the yourts,
so as to avoid the close neighbourhood of unwelcome
insect pests that would be only too delighted to
make acquaintance with European blood. Our pack-
ponies not having yet arrived, I went with my wife
to inspect the native dwellings, and found them even
dirtier than we had anticipated. A few ragged
Chinamen sat smoking their long pipes round the
fireplace, and the combined smoke rendered the air
stifling. They all seemed very astonished at the

172 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

sight of us, and made a circle round us, examining
us closely, fingering- our clothes, and paying special
attention above all things to my wife's riding crop.
We had to rely entirely on our pantomimic powers to
explain the use of the different articles they were
interested in. Needless to say that we shortened our
visit, especially as we understood from their signs
that the head official was about to come and greet
the distinguished white foreigners. Our tents were
hardly up, when we saw the procession approach.
At the head of it walked the Kha in his Chinese
uniform, with the traditional peacock feather in
his cap as an emblem of his governorship. By his
side came a small boy (who turned out to be his
interpreter), carrying his pipe and tobacco ; the
followers, in whom we recognised our old friends
who had been sent to meet us, marched behind.
The sight promised quite an imposing interview.
After the preliminary bows and tacit expressions
of friendship we found that, with regard to conversa-
tion between his interpreter and ours, there was a
missing link, viz. from Kalmuk to Chinese. Luckily
this gap was soon filled by a Kalmuk who happened
to be at the karaoul at the time, and who was
acquainted with both languages, having had frequent
dealings with the Kobdo merchants. His name

EXCHANGE OF CIVILITIES

i73

was Daniel, and we forthwith engaged his services
for the Mongolian journey at the rate of twenty
roubles per month. In this manner our exchange
of civilities went through four stages before it was
finally comprehended on both sides ; thus Littledale

jfeu*ai

"we were met by half a dozen chinamen."

spoke to me in English, which I translated into
Russian for Nicholas, who turned it into Kalmuk
for Daniel, who next translated it into Mongolian
Chinese for the boy, who eventually brought it to
the comprehension of the Kha in pure Pekin idiom.
Every sentence took about half an hour to go round,
which considerably lengthened the interview. Our

174 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

main object was to obtain a reliable guide for the
country we intended to explore, but the old man kept
avoiding- the question, and on being summoned to
give a definite answer said he was unable to comply
with our wishes without having previously received
orders from the authorities of Kobdo. On the other
hand he gave us a most lamentable description of his
private misfortunes, saying that he had been sent
to this distant post through the intrigues of jealous
compatriots, and that he had had to leave his wife
and children at Pekin. Finally he rose and departed,
though not before having asked us to produce our
passports.

Towards evening Littledale and I returned his
visit. Bringing with us the precious passports, which
had been duly visdd by the Chinese Legations in
London and St. Petersburg, and followed by our
interpreters, we solemnly entered the Governor's
yourt. Our firm intention was to insist upon being-
supplied with a native guide ; but here again we
received evasive answers, and none of the suite
knowing anything about the country or the game that
was to be found, we had to rely on our personal
inspiration. The Kha's yourt into which we were
introduced was larger and more comfortable than the
others. It was hermetically closed by felt, strewn

DANIEL 175

with carpets, and the furniture consisted of a small
writing-desk, two or three low stools, and a common
wooden cupboard carrying an ordinary guinea clock ;
in the corner were piled up numerous brass imple-
ments of various sizes and shapes, which looked more
like instruments of torture than basins and jugs.
The gentleman with the peacock feather greeted us
warmly, but the conversation under such conditions
could hardly be lively, and ended in a complete
fiasco. We used all our diplomatic resources to
obtain someone acquainted with the region, saying
that we were ourselves important people in our
country, and that our sovereigns would be very much
annoyed if they knew that we had not been treated
according to our position, etc. — but all in vain. The
constant reply was that he had received no orders
from Kobdo. Moreover, after having perused our
passports, he told us that he would have to send
them to the authorities of that town to be care-
fully examined, and that we should be obliged to
wait till they were returned, which implied three
weeks' stay at the karaoul. Paying no attention
to this ultimatum, we solemnly got up, thanked him
for his courtesy, and retired with the firm intention
of starting on the following day. In this dilemma
our new Chinese interpreter Daniel came up to us

i76 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

and proposed himself as a guide, saying he knew
the country well enough, and asking us not to repeat
this to any of the karaoul officials. We naturally
accepted his services, thankful to have got out of
the difficulty.

The evening was quite warm, though we were
still at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. Next morning
we found that our ponies had been so exhausted by
the previous day's long march that we had to give
up all hopes of leaving the karaoul until another
twenty-four hours' rest should render them fit tor
work. It was only one day lost after all, and we

CHINESE CURIOSITY 177

expected Joseph every moment with a month's stores
from Kosh-Agatch — reinforcements which we badly
required. The weather continued beautiful. After
luncheon our friends the Chinamen strolled up to our
camp with a view of ascertaining" our plans, but we
kept on the defensive in a most Machiavellian way.
Their curiosity was otherwise satisfied, for there was
hardly a thing" in our tents they left untouched, some
of them going so far as to feel the ladies' skirts,
buttons, and boots. The excuse they gave for paying
us this visit was to learn whether we had spent a
comfortable night. They professed to apologise for
not being able to supply us with a guide, and took
roundabout turns with that object, such as : Our
Emperor lives on very good terms with yours, and
we are quite ready to comply with your wishes, but
. . . etc. Here Mrs. Littledale thought it might be
the best opportunity for securing" the silver belt
already described. She offered the man 60 roubles
for it, and we produced sixty new silver coins, hoping
to entice him into the bargain, but he was not ac-
quainted with Russian money, or at least appeared
not to be, and sent to his yourt for a pair of scales
in order to weigh the metal. When he had carefully
weighed it he appeared to suggest that it might not
be all silver, and that there might be lead inside,

178 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

whereupon we said he could cut one in half to assure
himself of the contrary. Evidently he did not con-
sider us trustworthy customers. Finally he said he
would not part with his belt for less than 57 Chinese
oulans (114 roubles), but as Mrs. Littledale refused
to ^ive such a sum he brought it down to 100 roubles.

A TAME YAK.

While this was taking place the others had each
caught hold of something in the tent, examining
every article with the greatest interest ; the camera
seemed to frighten them, and when Littledale pointed
it towards them they all made a sudden rush back-
wards. After this decisive trial of their standing-
powers they took leave of us and departed. A few
minutes later a special messenger from the Kha

PRESENTS

79

brought me a tin of tea as a present from His
Excellency, saying that the Emperor of China and
a few favoured mandarins were the only people who
had ever tasted such a beverage. I immediately
sent Nicholas to present the Governor, on my behalf,

^^^^^^m

[TTLEDALE TRYING THE YAK.

with a pair of field-glasses and a Waterbury watch.
Thus ended our dealings with the karaoitl officials.
The evening was lovely, the hills in the distance were
covered in a dark blue mist, and the undulating steppe
around us reflected the bright red hue of the setting
sun. As we were dining one of the natives came up

180 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

to us with his tame Yak, offering his services for our
journey; Littledale politely declined them, though
not before he had tried the animal, which refused to
advance a step. Joseph turned up at 6 p.m. with
stores, but our expectations were not realised in
regard to letters — he had found none at Kosh-Agatch.
On the following morning we lifted camp at 9 a.m.
towards the Bain - Khairkhan range, whose lofty
plateaux seemed to promise fine hunting-grounds.

CHAPTER V.

March to the Suok River — Camp at foot of Bain-Khairkhan Range —
Suok Valley — Wild Sheep seen — An unsuccessful Stalk — Antelopes
seen — Sand-grouse — Wolves — Plover — Grayling fishing — Snow-cock
Littledale's success — More Stalks — Shift Camp — Russian Merchant
— March by Kobdo River — Hares — Marmot — Horses footsore —
Kirghis Yourts — Marmot Skins — Crossing Tchagan-Kol River —
Chinese Karaoul — Valley of the Sumdairik — Muss-Taou Range —
A new Guide

Our departure from the karaoul on the morning of
July 3rd must have produced somewhat of a sensation
at the Chinese post, for the Governor had refused his
permission till our passports had been duly examined
at Kobdo, deeming it impossible for us to continue
our route without the guide we had so unsuccessfully-
applied for. Our caravan passed solemnly by the side
of his yourt on its way down the Boro-Burgassy
stream, but the old gentleman made no apparent
objection to our advance, and his passive opposition
showed itself only by his not bidding us farewell.

Our intention that day was to make a short march
to the Suok River, and pitch camp by its side. The

country we crossed was barren and sunburnt ; it was
N 2 181

i82 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

an undulating steppe on either side, and presented the
aspect of a geographical map for the blind. The
higher grounds of the Tchagan-Burgaza were now
hardly visible in the distance behind us ; in front rose,
a few miles ahead, the range of hills known as the
Bain-Khairkhan, which we were so anxious to in-
vestigate, whilst to our left ran a series of low table-
lands, which I explored later on, and found several
rams. These were the Beliou mountains.

Three hours brought us to the junction of the
Boro-Burgassy and Suok rivers, where we pitched
camp at noon after a short march of twelve miles.
The wind blew furiously, which greatly hindered the
erection of our tents. We now found ourselves nearly
at the foot of the massive range we intended to
inspect on the morrow.

The valley of the Suok, bordered on the south-
west by the Bain-Khairkhan lofty crest, was more a
wide, Mat steppe than a valley. The Suok water
was clear and promising for Grayling, the current
slow, owing to the gentle slope of the ground. It
was here that, for the first time, the exceeding dry-
ness of the climate showed its effects. The bed-poles
broke in twain, and we had much difficulty in finding
timber to replace them. Luckily we discovered a
small clump of trees, the only one within many miles,

HERDS OF ANTELOPE 183

mostly pine and larch, growing in a ravine on the
opposite slopes, and immediately despatched Taba
with an axe to bring back two or three of the
straightest ones which might serve our purpose.
He succeeded in a most intelligent manner, and we
were soon in possession of a couple of poles which
were ultimately worked into shape. But these had
to dry, and it was some days before they were fit
for use. Meantime we had to strap the broken
ones together as tightly as possible. Rain poured
down the whole afternoon. There was no fuel to
be obtained on the spot, and our dinner that night
consisted of dried "Julienne" and tinned tongue. On
the following morning, at 3 a.m., Littledale and I
started for the hills. We crossed the river, which
we found easily fordable close to camp, and on
reaching a small plateau half-way up, separated in
different directions.

In three hours we found ourselves on the table-
land, about 1,500 feet above camp-level. Although
our tents appeared to stand at the very foot of the
range, yet so deceiving was the distance over the
steppe, that the hills seemed gradually moving away
from us as we advanced over that endless plain. On
our way we came across several herds of antelope,
probably A. gutturosa, and here for the first time we

1 84 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

also met with antelopes of a much smaller species,
which my Kalmuks called "Suite." They would
start at a few hundred yards from us and jump for
some time on the same spot like india-rubber balls
before dashing off at a tremendous pace. I do not
know that this curious little animal has ever been
described before, and am sorry that, being intent on
shooting sheep, we did not endeavour to secure one
or two specimens. We did not see any of them
beyond the Suok steppe, in the valley of the Kobdo,
nor on the Kosh-Agatch plain, where, however, on
our return journey, we bagged several of the larger
antelope. I should estimate the height of the smaller
species to be about twenty inches at the withers,
roughly speaking, and the coat was of a dark brown
hue, growing lighter under the stomach.

When we had finally crossed the dreary steppe
we began ascending one of the numerous parallel
ravines leading up to the higher grounds, and our
ponies found it by no means easy to toil up the
steep marshy slopes. There was no avoiding it,
however, and at 6 a.m. we landed on a broad plateau,
from which a promising sheep country came into
view. Two or three heads of wild sheep strewed
the ground, and gave us hopes of success. Here
we drew lots, Littledale and I, and parted on our

AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY 185

exploring trip, fortune sending me to the right, whilst
my companion took the opposite direction. The
scenery in front of us was a wild and desolate one ;
long arid tablelands succeeded each other in the
distance ; occasional rocky boulders springing out of
them broke the monotony of the view, whilst deep
corries with precipitous banks of rolling stones
divided the plateaux from one another. Small
streams trickled at the bottom of the ravines, with
patches of grass on -either side, and wide stretches
of snow melted fast under the rays of the rising
sun, the whole conveying the impression of a drawing
in black and white. Not a creature was in sight
save a few Plovers, which fluttered round us, en-
deavouring to draw our attention from their nests,
and a herd of Yaks, which had been abandoned on
the high grounds for summer grazing by some stray
Kirghiz tribe. As we advanced on horseback they
suddenly took fright, and started off in a frantic
gallop with the noise of a charge of cavalry. Neither
Taba nor my other Kalmuk knew anything of the
country, and the word " Bclbess" (" I do not know")
was the constant answer to my questions. We rode
on in this manner for some time, crossing several
lateral corries, spying on our way, and finally dis-
mounted at the edge of a steep descent in order to

1 86 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

inspect more carefully the ground before us. But
no game was visible, and I was about giving it up
when a few grey specks came into the field of my
telescope, half an inch above an intervening ridge.
Sure enough these were wild sheep at last ! Strain-
ing my sight to the utmost I managed to make out
the large spread of their horns, and counted ten rams
lounging in the open, some two miles in front of our
position. Taba's face gleamed with joy as he re-
turned my glass, and I could see him anxiously
examining the nullah below us, and mentally making-
plans for the forthcoming stalk. In a moment we
got out of sight, descending over the rolling stones,
and dragging our ponies after us. There was a
noisy dislodging of boulders, and the ponies refused
several times to advance, but the sheep were a long
way off, and there were no other means of proceed-
ing. This dangerous scramble succeeded after much
trouble, and we found ourselves safe in the depths
of the nullah. Here we mounted again, following
down the stream the best part of a mile so as to
get well round the place where we had located the
herd, under shelter of the opposite slopes. The
question now arose whether we could cross the next
ridge unnoticed, and whether the further banks of
the second ravine would conceal us from the com-

A DILEMMA 187

mandirig view from the plateau on which the sheep
were lying. If so, the stalk was possible, for I had
detected a hollow which led up to within a hundred
yards of them. So we toiled on, but found, on
peeping over the summit, that further advance would
mean certain failure, for the whole herd was in full
sight some 800 yards across the corrie. The rams
carried splendid heads, and two of them especially
were grand old patriarchs. In this dilemma we
decided to retrace our steps, and try the same ridge
further down the valley. Taba led the way back
in good order, and another half a mile lower down
we crossed the ridge, as we had expected, under
cover. We now entered a wide grassy nullah, which
I first carefully inspected, and, on seeing no sign of
the sheep, we made straight for the opposite side,
where a long ravine ran up to the very edge of the
plateau on which they were lying. But " there is
many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." I had
decided to leave the ponies at the bottom of the
valley with my " second horseman " and go on with
Taba. As we were half-way down the slope the
horses showed signs of nervousness, the cause of
which was soon explained, for on looking round I
saw a Wolf within 40 yards of us, crouching low on
a patch of snow, evidently on the warpath. As we

1 88 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

approached, he quietly gazed at us and walked slowly
off, apparently disappointed at our interference, and
looking reproachfully back at us now and then. This
was ill omen indeed, and hardly had we advanced
when up sprang, from behind a mass of rock, a
couple of ewes, and trotted off in the direction we
had chosen for approaching the rams, disappearing
at the very point from which I had intended to take
my shot ! No words can convey an idea of my
feelings at that moment. As for Taba, he gave
vent to his rage in his usual broken English vocabu-
lary, which by no means helped matters. A faint
hope, however, inspired us that the sheep might not
have been completely scared away, and that we
might perhaps still find them in the neighbourhood.
I left the horses by the stream and, together with
Taba, followed up the gully in low spirits. The
wind was blowing in our faces as steadily as could
be, and had it not been for those ewes I certainly
should have given my rifle a chance. When we
reached the top, however, we found that our pre-
cautions were useless, for the sheep had vanished,
and we soon stood on the place where they had
been lying, evidence of this being afforded by the
numerous fresh droppings on the ground. We were
now on a lofty plateau at the back of the highest

OUR BILL OF FARE 189

summit of the Bain-Khairkhan range. Snow had
by this time almost entirely melted, thus destroying
our only chance of discovering- the direction which
the herd had taken. We carefully examined the
ground for a mile round the plateau, excepting in
the direction from camp, as it was getting late, and
ten miles separated us from the Suok River. But
though we used our glasses with the utmost care,
inspecting every corner in the depths of each nullah,
there was no game to be seen ; the sheep had
vanished like ghosts. We accordingly decided to
retrace our steps, and, mounting our steeds, reached
the tents just before darkness had set in. I found
Littledale busily engaged in fitting the new bed-
poles. He had come across a few ewes, but had
returned empty-handed. He was convinced that the
ground allotted to him was not worth visiting, and
proposed that before shifting to new quarters he
should have a try the following day at the herd
I had so unexpectedly come across. Moreover,
Mrs. Littledale was suffering from a bad headache,
and we accordingly decided upon another day's rest
before starting for the Muss-Taou range. My wife
had been fishing in the stream and had causrht a few
Grayling, thus giving us a change in our customary
bill of fare, which invariably consisted of pea-soup

i9o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

or Maggi's consomme4, mutton, and tinned fruit.
Littledale was off early next morning, whilst I re-
mained in camp with the ladies. The heat was
simply overpowering-, my thermometer showing 1 20
degrees in the shade. I stopped the whole day in
our tent, sheltering from the scorching- rays of the
sun. The extraordinary variation of temperature in
these regions is worth noting. Within five or six
hours it fell from 130 degrees above to 3 degrees
belozo zero ; as soon as the sun sets the altitude
begins to tell, and it may freeze at any moment.

Towards evening we anxiously expected Littledale's
return, but at 9 p.m. there was no sign of him, nor of
Taba who had accompanied him, and when we awoke
next morning at six there was still no Littledale.
Ultimately, however, at 7 a.m. three horsemen
appeared in the distance, and great was our relief
when we recognised our companion riding in front
with a decidedly triumphant air, for there sure enough
we made out a magnificent ram's head tied at the
back of Taba's saddle. Littledale forthwith gave us
an account of his twenty-eight hours' outing in the
hills. He had found my herd a couple of miles
beyond the ill-fated plateau in a small nullah in the
only direction I had failed to examine, and had
succeeded in approaching them late in the afternoon,

A SPLENDID HEAD 191

not before he had realised the actual size of the two
largest rams. One of these had then fallen to his
rifle, and the horns measured, as taped on the spot,
19?, inches in girth at the base, 60 inches length along
the curve, and 40 inches from tip to tip. The other
he thought was a still more massive head, though
perhaps shorter in length, and he strongly advised me
to start off directly and make an attempt to secure
it, as the animals, he said, had not been greatly
frightened by his single shot. The reason he had
stayed out all night was that darkness had set in
while he was in a steep gorge, and he found himself
shut up in a cul-de-sac amongst inaccessible rocks,
where further advance was out of question both for
men and ponies. He had accordingly squatted down
with his hunters under a protruding ledge and waited
for dawn. A small bit of chocolate divided in three
had constituted their evening meal ; but their spirits
were kept up by the day's success. On hearing of
the possibility of coming across the other large ram
I decided to take my chance without delay, and
started at J.30 with Taba, who was most anxious
on my behalf, and who, though he had spent the
whole night in the open, insisted upon accompanying
me. But this hurried departure was doomed to be
a failure. We covered that day miles and miles of

i92 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

country, and rode far beyond the plateau where I had
first spied the sheep, until we reached a wide, grassy
valley, where we found several herds of ewes grazing
at leisure, but no rams. We passed the very spot
where Littledale had killed the day before, hardly
a mile from where I had seen the animals lying, and
I was highly disgusted at my bad luck. We returned
to camp at 7 p.m., after twelve hours' continuous
riding, without having caught sight of anything worth
a shot.

Thus ended our sport over the Bain-Khairkhan
hills. The result was small, but satisfactory, the
trophy obtained being that of the largest Ovis aniiuou
yet on record, and the second best during the whole
trip. Next morning, July 7th, camp was lifted, and
a general start was made down the Suok valley
with the object of pitching tents if possible at the
junction of that stream with the Kobdo River. Our
Chinese interpreter, Daniel, who was acting as guide,
had come up to me the night before saying that
he thought I might find sheep in the lower mountains
above the left slopes bordering the Suok steppe, and
volunteering to take me to a fine nullah in the Beliou
range, thence bringing me on to our next camping
place. He added that we could just manage to do
it in a day, and I naturally assented to the pro-

HERDS OF ANTELOPE 193

position. Littledale made no objection, and said he
would manage the march, so accordingly I started
at 3 a.m. with Daniel, who was dressed in a con-
spicuous red coat, and Littledale's hunter, Lepet,
poor Taba being done up with the hard work of
the previous day. On our way across the steppe
we met with several herds of Antelope, both of the
larger and smaller kind. They would let us approach
to within 400 yards and then start off at a great pace,
coursing round us, and stopping at times to watch our
proceedings. A couple of hours brought us to the
foot of the hills, when we be^an ascending a narrow
gully, which gradually widened as we advanced, and
eventually turned into a broad stretch of stony table-
land. It was a bright, sunny day, too bright in fact
for easy stalking, and the heat was already making
itself felt at 7 a.m. as we came into likely ground and
dismounted. Numbers of Hares, startled by our
presence, ran in front of us, and the shrill whistle
of the Marmot alone broke the silence of the morning.
We were now at an altitude of about 9,000 feet above
sea-level ; the hills presented an aspect of rolling
boulders, covered with shingle and occasional patches
of grass. To our left rose a huge mass of rocky
pinnacles with perpendicular cliffs some hundred feet
high, at the foot of which lay traces of snow. Before

194 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

lis we discovered a broad valley affording good
pasture grounds, and at the bottom of it flowed the
Beliou stream due eastwards. I now advanced
towards it with Lepet, both of us spying carefully
as we moved on, and leaving our friend Daniel, with
his bright red stalking jacket, in charge of the ponies.
He seemed highly disappointed to be left behind, but
I explained to him that his conspicuous array would
considerably handicap us, and might compromise the
success of our stalk in case we came across game.
But he was not to be thus despised, and would keep
following us at a distance on the plea that he was
responsible for our safety. On reaching the edge of
the plateau the whole valley came into view, and
Lepet immediately pointed out to me a lot of seven
rams, lying in a corrie about 800 yards below us.
Seeing us suddenly squat down, Daniel, totally unable
to restrain his impatience, crawled up to us in order to
have a peep for himself, and I had to keep him low-
by sheer force, for he moved his head up and down in
a most careless fashion, which threatened to attract
the sheep's attention. I saw that two of the rams
carried good heads, and were worth trying for, but
the open ground on which they lay prevented further
advance. Just as I was considering our next move
the animals got up and started off at a gallop. I was

A DIFFICULT PATH 195

convinced that they had seen Daniel, and was about
to give vent to my feelings, when Lepet assured
me that they were only shifting to cooler quarters for
shelter from the scorching rays of the sun, under the
rocks I had previously noticed. I was disposed to
believe him, for though they ran fast they did not
behave like frightened animals, which generally after
a sharp gallop suddenly halt to take breath and look
round in the direction of the intruder, and then gallop
off again at full speed. They never turned once,
and it became evident that they were making for the
rocks. But we should now have to find their hiding-
place. When they had disappeared over a ridge
we decided to mount our ponies and proceed down
the corrie and up to the place where we had lost sight
of them, leaving the horses again below the ridge.
The ravine we had to negotiate was a difficult one
owing to the rolling stones, and at places soft marshy
ground, which we had to cross at its bottom. Seeing
that this was too much for the ponies, I dismounted
and went on with Lepet. The " red man " was again
left behind, and happily this time did not object. At
this stage I found that the wind was blowing steadily
at our backs, so I suggested a long detour which took
us an hour to make, and when we reached the top
of the next corrie we were on the far side of the

1 96 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

rocky buttresses, among" stretches of melting snow.
A large bird, reminding one of a Snowcock ( Tetrao-
gallus), fluttered away in front of us, followed by
seven or eight young ones. I asked Lepet what it
was called ; he answered " Ullar" in a whisper, for no
hunter took greater precautions on the war-path than
Lepet. On advancing a little further I soon found
the sheep, lying about 500 yards away to our left, and
began crawling towards them on all-fours. But there
was no approaching them, for the boulders presently
grew scarcer, and an open slanting slope extended
in front of us. So I waited amongst the larger rocks,
trusting to fortune. One of the rams, the only one
I could now see, got up, and slowly stretching his
limbs walked in our direction, and disappeared in
a dip of the ground. Again I waited, expecting
every moment the sight of a pair of horns emerging
within shot ; but nothing came, and, growing im-
patient, I crept on, after taking Lepet's advice. On
reaching in this manner the edge of the hollow, I
found no sign of game ; the herd had moved away !
Here Lepet caught me by the arm and pointed to
our right. Sure enough there were three sheep,
some 400 yards below us, playing and fighting, and
evidently making for a perpendicular rocky wall
which separated us from them. Two were young

A RUNNING SHOT 197

males, the third a fine old ram. Whether these
were a fresh lot, or part of the herd we had dis-
covered in the morning, I could not tell. As soon
as they were hidden from view we rushed, Lepet
and I, towards the cliffs. My companion was con-
fident we should find them, though I rather doubted
it, as they did not seem to me inclined to settle down.
As we reached the edge of the precipice we began
peering carefully over into the depths below, and
Lepet suddenly stopped like a statue, beckoning to
me to move forward ; but I had hardly time to come
up when out of the crags dashed the three rams in
wild confusion some hundred yards beneath me. A
running shot was my only chance. By the time I
took my aim and fired at the biggest sheep he was
fully 1 50 yards off, and great was my amazement
when I saw him stagger for a second and, consider-
ably slackening his pace, walk slowly away, whilst
the two younger rams halted and kept looking back,
apparently waiting for their superior. But the poor
old fellow was very weak, and soon lay down in a
hollow. "Jakski, baaloii" ("Bravo, wounded"), said
Lepet with a triumphant smile, as he sat down to
watch the animal through his glass. The others had
now abandoned their comrade to his fate. I could
plainly distinguish from where I was his shoulders

i9S AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

and head, which he swayed from one side to another,
feeling evidently restless and uncomfortable. Leaving
Lepet in his commanding position, I scrambled down
the steep cliff and advanced along the plateau, keep-
ing out of sight of the beast. It took me half an
hour to creep within range of him. As I looked
back I could see Lepet on the sky-line intent upon
my proceedings, and thereby gathered that every-
thing was right, when suddenly the sheep got up
and gave me an easy broadside shot. A second after
he fell motionless to the ground. I found him to be
an old veteran of his kind. His horns taped fairly
well (51 inches length by \$>\ inches girth), though
both tips were unfortunately broken off. To my
astonishment Daniel made his appearance with the
ponies before Lepet had time to come up. The
rascal had been unable to subdue his sporting pro-
clivities, and had been stalking on his own account,
thus running the risk of spoiling all. He con-
gratulated me so warmly that I refrained from invino-
vent to my discontent, and we shook hands in a most
friendly manner. When my hunter arrived we joined
our efforts to grallock the dead ram, and cut him up
in quarters. Daniel with his red gown, tucked-up
sleeves, showing his blood-smeared arms, presented
the dismal look of an executioner in the Middle

A TEDIOUS MARCH 199

Ages ; the fatal axe would have completed the picture.
Having- packed the meat and head of the kotchkor
on our saddles, we started at 2 p.m. towards our next
presumed camping ground. The heat was almost
unendurable as our ponies struggled over the stony
tableland and across numerous rocky ravines. On our
way we came across the two young rams, still search-
ing for their lost companion, but no others were to
be seen. At 6 p.m. we finally caught sight of our
tents, low down in the valley, pitched near a broad,
marshy stretch, about three miles from the junction
of the Suok and Kobdo rivers. We were obliged
to make a dtHour in order to avoid getting stuck in
the bog, and reached camp as darkness was setting
in. The ladies and Littledale greeted my return,
and admired my well-earned trophy. The march
along the steppe, they told me, had been so trying
for the horses, owing to the extreme heat, that they
had been obliged to stop before their intended
destination, which was the Kobdo River. We sat
down to dinner in the best of spirits, little knowing
the difficulties that lay before us. This was to be
our last successful day for a considerable length of
time. A series of long tedious marches up the
valley of the Kobdo, through a gameless country,
now awaited us, till after many a struggle we decided

200 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

to abandon our journey towards the Muss-Taou
range, and, turning off northwards, found "fresh fields
and pastures new."

On the morning of the 8th of July we struck
camp, in spite of our Kalmuk's unwillingness to
go further, and mounted our steeds at 7 a.m. We
waited till the ponies were duly loaded, and, sending
them off in front, followed them up at close quarters.
We soon found ourselves on the banks of the Kobdo
River, which at that spot attains a width of 300 feet,
and is very rapid. Its water was deep and muddy,
as we discovered later, owing to its chief tributary,
the Tchagan-Kol, which we reached on the following-
day, and which flows through sandy and clayey soil.
Above the tributary the water of the Kobdo was
perfectly clear, and afforded capital fishing. As we
entered the valley and began ascending its left slope
we were agreeably surprised at the sight of small
woods bordering the river, consisting chiefly of larch,
willow, ash, and abundance of juniper in full bloom.
This considerably altered the aspect of the country,
which had hitherto been dreary and desolate. What
with the heat of the day and hard ground, our
caravan advanced very slowly. The unshod ponies
had gradually worn away their hoofs, and were now
most of them footsore. Moreover, our men were

A HARD PULL 201

beginning to grumble, and it was all our demitcha
could do to keep them in order. We were anxious
to reach the snowy range at the head of the valley
as quickly as possible, but this half-hearted advance
was by no means encouraging, and, though we had
arranged with the Zaissan at Kosh-Agatch to supply
us with a fresh lot of ponies every month, we hardly
expected that they would find us in the wilds we were
now exploring. According to my forty-verst map, it
would take us at least two days to reach the Tchagan-
Kol, or Ak-Kol, River (both "Tchagan" and " Ak "
meaning white in Mongol), but, to our great astonish-
ment, we found ourselves on its banks that very
evening after crossing a long steep pass, and having
covered a distance of about twrenty miles from the
Suok River. Evidently the map, our main guide,
was as unreliable as our friend Daniel, who now
confessed that his knowledge of the country was
confined to the caravan route to Kobdo town.
There was practically no path, and the ascent up
to the pass in the afternoon was a hard pull for
our pack-horses, several of which straggled behind,
and had to be repeatedly reloaded. On reaching
the top a broad swamp, produced by the junction
of the Tchagan- Kol and Kobdo rivers, came into
view. The former flowed through a wide and arid

202 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

alkali steppe, whilst the latter was concealed by
numerous clumps of trees and bushes growing along
its banks on either side. In the middle of the plain
stood a couple of Kirghiz yourts, in which lived
a tradesman who was on his annual summer tour,
gathering marmot skins from the natives. We de-
cided to pitch camp by the side of these yourts,
and cross the Tchagan-Kol on the morrow. Some
of our packs came in very late, and it was close
upon 7 p.m. when we finally settled down. Next
morning as I came out of my tent at 5 a.m., after
a restless night, our dcmitcha let me understand
through Nicholas, the Russian interpreter, that the
men flatly declined to go any further. He said that
their ponies had been mercilessly overworked, that
their backs were sore, that the few sheep, the only
remnants of former prosperity, had been devoured
by wolves during the night, and that the river was
altogether unfordable. This was indeed a piece of
rebellion. Littledale and I would hear nothing of
it. We promised them a short march that day, and
said that all those difficulties would be easily over-
come by us, who were "mighty white chiefs," and
that no power could stop us. The dcmitcha then
confided to us that the instigator of the whole move-
ment was one of the Kalmuks who had deserted from

REBELLIOUS KALMUKS

■°3

China into Russian territory, and that if he was caught
by the Celestial authorities he would be sentenced to
death. Whereupon I had him called up, and told
him that so long as he remained with us and served
us faithfully we should protect him against the Chinese

•ACK-I'ONIES.

Emperor himself. As for the horses, I said, they
would soon recover while resting in a permanent
camp, and food would be supplied to the men some-
how or other. This seemed to have a cheering effect
on them, especially as we expected to find a Kirghiz
encampment a few miles higher up, where we could
buy some sheep. We struck camp accordingly at

204 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

7 a.m., and soon found ourselves on the low banks
of the Tchagan-Kol River. It was about 150 feet
broad at that place ; the water was high and muddy,
and the current strong. I suggested trying to find a
ford, but the Marmot -skin dealer, whom we con-
sulted, assured us that it was impossible to cross the
river at that time of year, and that, unless we went
up to its very sources, we should find no available
ford. In this dilemma we risked not only losing
our prestige, which we were continually obliged to
maintain in order to influence our men, but also
having to turn back and abandon the Muss-Taou
hunting-grounds. Having no portable boat with us,
the only plan was to build ourselves a raft of some
kind. Littledale had had some experience of this
kind during his- journey through Tibet, and decided
that we should make use of our waterproof sheets
and bed-poles for the purpose. To our Kalmuk's
amazement we accordingly set to work. Little Taba
was the first to understand what we were about, and,
together with Cristo, Gabriel, and Nicholas, greatly
contributed to ensure success. The other men
watched passively, now and then shrugging their
shoulders, which was equivalent to saying, " You
will never get over that job." In a couple of hours
the frame was practically ready ; it consisted of our

MAKING A RAFT 205

bed-poles lashed together in the form of a square,
and tightly bound at the corners. A large water-
proof sheet, which we used as the floor of our tent,
was then attached to this square frame as firmly as
possible ; the bottom was strengthened by several

PREPARING TO CROSS THE TCHACAN-KOI

other waterproofed canvas sheets, and a long bit
of rope was attached to each of the opposite corners
of this improvised ferry, one end of which was taken
over to the farther side by two Kalmuks, whilst the
other end remained on the left bank, and served to
haul the boat back after each voyage. This in-
genious contrivance was completed by noon, and

206

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the question then arose how this extemporary vessel
would stand the force of the current. Littledale,
who had been chief engineer, got in first, after final
instructions to the men on the other side whose
business it was to pull the raft across ; but just as

MRS. LITTLEDALE AND THE AUTHOR CROSSING THE TCHAGAN-KOL.

he was reaching mid-stream (they either pulled too
hard or the boat was badly balanced) water flowed
in over the sides, and our companion had to be
hauled back, submerged almost up to the waist.
The next voyage, however, proved more successful,
for the weight of the luggage steadied the vessel,

CROSSING THE TCHAGAN-KOL

s°7

which alighted safely some fifty yards lower on
the opposite bank. The whole of the caravan and
impedimenta crossed the Tchagan-Kol in this manner,
and the horses swam over without incident. But
this occupied the whole day, and it was not until

A SMOOTH PASSACK.

6 p.m. that we found ourselves safely on the other
side. We pitched camp close to the river, and
forthwith hung all our sheets and bedding- out to
dry. The Kalmuks looked at us now with the
greatest possible respect, and grumbling ceased for
a time.

2o8 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

On the following morning, July 1 6th, wo started
at 7 a.m. up the Kobdo River again, leaving the
Tchagan-Kol behind us. The water in the Kobdo
was now perfectly clear, and looked promising for
Grayling. Along the river banks the vegetation was
rich and beautiful. We passed through sunny glades,
amongst shady groves of pine and willow. The
grass was tall and wonderfully green, whilst flowers
of every description and colour completed the smiling
picture. It was a pleasant change to us, as we
followed gaily the windings of the stream, and en-
joyed the verdure of this oasis. The hills on either
side were mostly barren, with occasional small larch
woods, their altitude not exceeding 8,000 feet. At
1 p.m. we reached a small meadow on the very banks
of the river, and decided to halt there for the night,
after having covered a distance of about twenty miles.
Our pack - ponies had picked up a little during this
comparatively easy march over soft grass, and it was
a welcome sight to watch them come in one after the
other, neighing joyfully as they were being unloaded,
and rolling on the ground in wild contentment. In
the afternoon we went out fishing, my wife, Littledale,
and myself. This was not merely for amusement,
but to supply food for our men, who possessed no
more sheep, and were in a constant state of ferment.

A DIFFICULTY 209

Fortunately, though the wind was strong, Grayling
were numerous, and appeared to be as hungry as our
Kalmuks, for in a couple of hours we returned to
camp with sixty fish, averaging three-quarters of a
pound, which we distributed amongst the men.
These fish rose to any kind of fly, and afforded
capital sport. As for animal life, the surrounding
country seemed entirely void of game of any sort.

Next morning we were off again at 6 a.m. The
Littledales started before us, but we soon caught them
up at a sharp turn of the river, where perpendicular
rocks barred further advance. The valley had been
gradually growing narrower till it formed a gorge
with sheer cliffs on both sides. There was no visible
path, and the rocks prevented an inland detour. After
careful inspection, we decided that the only means of
surmounting the difficulty was to tie each pony sepa-
rately to a long rope and swim them round the projecting
rock one after the other, whilst Littledale and I clung
to the rock with one hand and held tight to the rope
with the other, thus seeing the horses round to a safe
landing-place. There was hardly any foothold, and we
several times just missed an involuntary bath. Some
of the horses, on being pushed into the stream by our
men, refused energetically to advance, and struggled
so violently that their packs came off, occasioning

210 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

double work in reloading them. A Kalmuk lost hold
of the rope while swimming one of the ponies, and
the latter was immediately carried away down stream,
and eventually secured some hundreds of yards lower
down, with my wardrobe thoroughly drenched. It
took us over three hours to get the whole caravan on
the other side, and we fervently hoped that no similar
straits would ever befall us again.

We pitched camp a few miles higher up, on the
banks of the Kobdo, at an altitude of about 7,000
feet, after a short but exciting march. The valley
was now much narrower, and woods were growing
scarcer. Now and then, at turnings of the river, we
could catch an occasional glimpse of shining, snow-
clad peaks far ahead of us, the sight of which made
our hearts beat quicker. Yet we knew not what lay
before us, and insurmountable obstacles might still
prevent us from reaching our eagerly sought for
destination. Towards evening" we returned with over
one hundred fish, which we proceeded to hand over to
the demitcka, whose duty it was to distribute them as
fairly as possible amongst our Kalmuks. Here again
a misunderstanding took place, presumably owing to
favouritism on his part, and some of the caravan men
threatened to leave us. This, however, had no effect
upon us, for we knew that, besides running short ol

KIRGHIZ "SLIMNESS" 211

food, they would have to find their way back alone,
which was no easy matter, having advanced so far
into unknown country, and these facts we impressed
upon them as forcibly as we could.

Just as we were sitting" down to our frugal evening
meal Nicholas came up, saying that two Kirghiz men
had been sighted, and were riding in our direction.
We decided to seize the opportunity and secure them
as guides. But we were doomed to disappointment,
for Kirghiz " slimness " remains unrivalled among
Asiatic tribes. The two men presently came up to
our tent, and appeared frightened at our presence.
The striking feature of their costume was undoubtedly
the tall, red heels of their top-boots, fully four inches
long, which showed that it was more their habit to
ride than to walk. They wore long, greasy frocks,
lined with sheepskin, and low fur caps. Their faces
bore an expression of astonishment, though their eyes
betrayed cunning. When we explained to them
through our interpreter that we wanted them to ac-
company us to the Muss-Taou hills, they flatly
declined to do anything of the kind, saying that they
had pressing business to attend to, and that it was too
far out of their way ; whereupon we gave them to
understand that their services would be handsomely
rewarded by us. This, of course, led them to suppose

2i2 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

that wc could not do without them, and they suggested
that they might perhaps be tempted by such ridicu-
lously high wages that we forthwith put an end to
the interview by telling them they were no longer
wanted, though not before we had ascertained from
them that there were large herds of Kirghiz sheep
at the head of the valley. This was our first meeting
with representatives of the Kirghiz tribe, and I must
own that we found them to be the cleverest race we
had as yet come across. No wonder the wretched
Kalmuks are afraid of their influence, and avoid them
in every possible way. We ascertained afterwards
that the two men had returned late in the evening,
having agreed to our conditions, but that they had met
with a spiteful reception on the part of our Kalmuks,
whose sole aim was to prevent our advance.

On the following morning we made an early start,
and after an hour's march reached the junction of the
Kobdo River with its tributary the Sumdairik. We
were now in an awkward dilemma, and had to con-
sider whether we would continue our journey up the
main river, whose valley was becoming narrower and
consequently difficult to negotiate with pack-ponies,
or turn up the Sumdairik stream where it was easy
eoino- and, making- a dttour, join the Kobdo at its

fc> o> o 'J

sources. Our caravan men only answered our

A DISCOVERY 213

questions by their usual negative expressions of "I ok"
and " Be/dess" (" No," and " I do not know"). After
some hesitation we chose the latter alternative,
which, fortunately, proved a success ; for hardly had
we advanced a few miles, when we came across a
Chinese soldier, whom we proceeded to "commandeer"
as a guide, and who announced the pleasant fact that
we were in the vicinity of a karaott/. Although scared
by the number of strange faces round him, he under-
took to accompany us to the Chinese post, which it
took us scarcely an hour to reach. The valley of the
Sumdairik, which we followed for a few miles, re-
sembled, like that of the Suok, a broad, fiat steppe
rather than a valley. The ground at places was
white with Edelweiss flowers under our horses' feet,
elsewhere it was sandy and barren. Low undulating
hills rose on either side and joined at the head of the
stream, forming an amphitheatre, covered with larch
woods, at the bottom of which stood, sheltered on
all sides, half a dozen dirty yourts above a fairly
large lake. This was indeed a discovery, for my map
entirely ignored both the karaoul and the lake. One
of the yourts was slightly cleaner and larger than
the others, and, as usual, conspicuous by several
yellow flags fixed into a palisade round it. This was
evidently the head official's abode. As we passed the

2i4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

karaoul all the inhabitants, fifteen or twenty men and
women, rushed out in their rags to have a look at the
new-comers. We pitched our camp, after having
carefully chosen our ground, a couple of hundred
yards above the Chinese post, at an altitude of 7,900
feet. The Kha soon appeared with his escort and
bade us welcome ; he seemed a much less important
man than the Suok Governor, being adorned with
few coral beads on his cap, but no peacock feather.
He asked for our passports, which he was apparently
unable to read, for he handed them over without
perusal to his clerk, who returned them to us with
a pleasant smile. Educated Chinese clerks naturally
acquire great influence over their village, and practi-
cally rule the country, exacting illegal tributes from
the wretched Mongols, and often sharing the spoils
with " His Excellency the Governor." The official
at this karaoul was much more willing to help us,
probably owing to his more humble condition, and
we were soon supplied with a native who knew the
surrounding hills, and who was to act as our guide,
at the moderate fee of eight roubles per month. He
came to our tents in the afternoon, and we learnt
from him that wild sheep were by no means numerous
on the Muss-Taou range, and that he considered
the country round Lake Dain-Kol to be much richer

OUR DECISION

215

in rame. Yet the grounds we had been endeavour-
ing to reach for the last week seemed to us so
attractive from afar, that we decided to march on
to the head of the river Kobdo. As for the Dain-
Kol district, it was so much out of our way, in a

southern direction, that taking into consideration
the bad condition of our ponies and the constant
opposition of our Kalmuks, we deemed it advisable,
in case of failure on the Muss-Taou, to shift north-
wards and carefully explore the spurs of the Altai,
between the sources of the Tchagan-Kol River and
the Siberian frontier. In addition to our new L>uide

216 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the Kha sent us on the following morning, as we were
proceeding to lift camp, one of his soldiers as a guard
of honour. This Chinaman was clad in a bright
yellow frock with a patch of embroidered white silk
sewn in to it both on his breast and back, which
made us give him the nickname of " the target." He
proved of no use whatever, and, having accompanied
us half-way to the Kobdo lakes, we sent him back
with gratitude to his native post.

CHAPTER VI.

Sources of Kobdo River — Lakes — Fishing — Muss-Taou Hills — Journey
northwards — Nicholas sent for Sheep — Sumdairik River Camp —
Meat at last — Fresh Ponies expected at Tchagan - Kol River —
March on 16th of July — No Sport — Fresh Ponies and Men arrive —
More Marches — Moraine of old Glacier — Crossing the Tchagan-Kol
back — Camps — Snowstorm — Littledale finds Wild Sheep — Joseph
sent for Stores — Olonur Valley — Snow — July 23rd — Shooting— Game
at last — Antelope — First sight of Ibex (Capra Sibirica)—'$XaS&s> with
Taba — Littledale brings in a good Ram — Meeting with Zaissan
Semion and Kirghiz Chief.

We left the karaoul on the morning of July 13th
en rotitc for the Muss-Taou Hills. As usual we
were delayed by Kalmuk recriminations respecting
the ponies, and it was not till 7.30 a.m. that we
were ready to start. Our new Mongol guide, whose
shabby appearance might conceal, as we hoped, a
thorough knowledge of the country, took the lead
of our caravan, and after a long ascent we found
ourselves at the top of a pass about 8,500 feet high,
from which a magnificent view presented itself.
Beneath us lay two lakes whose waters were joined

by a broad river, the Kobdo, the sources of which

217

218 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

were now before us. The upper lake seemed to me
much larger than I had expected, according- to the
map, stretching westwards to what I thought was
over fifteen miles. With regard to these two lakes
I cannot do better than quote a passage from
Lieutenant Kozloff's observations. This well-known
explorer visited these regions the year after our
journey (1898) on his way to the Lob-Nor, and his
account, which was read at a meeting of the Russian
Geographical Society on November 22nd, tallies with
the notes I then took there : " My party came to the
spot where the Kobdo River forms two small lakes,
on the banks of which there are several Kirghiz
encampments. The lower Kobdo lake has an
irregular elongated form, stretching 10 miles from
east to west, with a width of about 5^ miles. There
are in it fifteen islands, of which some are from 2 to
2z> miles long. The upper lake is connected with
the lower by a rapid watercourse 420 feet wide.
The upper lake proved much larger than it was
supposed to be; its length is about 16% miles and
its width 4 miles; its depth attains 18 fathoms."
From the pass where we stood we could plainly
distinguish Lake Dain-Kol in the distance due south
of us, and on the opposite side of the two Kobdo
lakes ran the snowclad Muss-Taou ranee from north-

A DEBATE

219

west to south-east. Towards noon we reached the
river, at the place where it Hows between the two
lakes, and found it so wide and deep that the crossing
of it implied a still more serious undertaking than that

OUR NEW DEMITCHA AND MEN.

of the Tchagan-Kol. We therefore decided to pitch
camp on this side of the watercourse and hold a
debate in the afternoon on the dilemma which now
presented itself. The first question to elucidate was
the presence of wild sheep in those mountains, which
fact could only be ascertained from our new Mongol

2 2o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

guide, who, alone of the whole caravan, was supposed
to have ever visited those regions. Accordingly we
had him called up and interrogated him on the subject
through our Russian and Kalmuk interpreters. In
answer to our inquiries he said that he had spent over
two months in those hills catching Marmots, of which
he had found great numbers, but that he had never
come across any kotchkor (wild sheep), which in-
habited the eastern spurs beyond Dain-Kol, where
he thought we should be likely to get sport. These
statements, though perhaps untrustworthy, materially
changed the aspect of affairs. We had now advanced
so far into Mongolia, overcome numerous difficulties,
kept our Kalmuks constantly on the march merely
by promises of a permanent camp — all this with the
sole view of exploring the Muss-Taou range, and now
that we were within a few miles of it, we discovered
that it was useless to attempt it. Moreover, the hills
themselves did not now seem so attractive as they did
from a distance. Their slopes were covered with
pine and larch woods, and the rocks above appeared
to be more suited to Ibex than to Sheep, for no grassy
rolling knolls so attractive to the latter could be seen
through our telescopes. The Dain-Kol district was
entirely out of the question. It was out of our way
to the south, and would mean another month through

OUR INTENTION ABANDONED 221

a country where it was doubtful if there were sheep,
with home-sick men and worn-out ponies. In addition
to all this we ran the risk of being snowed in by the
closing- up of the passes back into Siberia, and a
winter in a Chinese kai'aoul was by no means a
pleasant prospect. We also intended to devote the
end of August and part of September to shooting
Maral and Roe-deer in the wooded regions of the
Altai before returning to Europe. Besides, we had
run short of meat, and were obliged that very evening
to send Nicholas and another man to one of the
Kirghiz encampments on the shores of the upper
lake in order to buy a dozen sheep. These and
other reasons induced us to abandon our idea of
exploring the long-coveted Muss-Taou range, and
turn our attention northwards, where Taba told us
he knew of first-rate ground for Sheep and Ibex.
Looking back, after a period of three years, on the
circumstances here detailed I now regret that we
abandoned our original intentions on the faith of an
unknown native ; for the other difficulties in our way
would have been hardly worth mentioning. But
when the moment arrived for decision we all felt,
unequipped as we were, that further advance would
be foolish. Great were the rejoicings amongst our
natives when they learnt that on the morrow we

222 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

should be heading towards the Siberian frontier.
They never gave vent to regret for so many marches
in vain and so much precious time lost ; in a second
all was forgotten !

The evening of that day, which was to be the
culminating point of our expedition, was the loveliest
we had as yet experienced. The whole landscape
was bathed in the rays of the setting sun. The lakes
glittered as if lit up by thousands of sparks reflected
through as many diamond prisms, whilst the hills
opposite slowly changed their colour from bright red
to lilac-grey, with countless intermediate hues, as
the sun gradually descended behind them. Presently
the rosy tops alone were visible, whilst the lakes below
had long ago put out their lights, and the dark blue
waves were rolling in before a strong west wind.
Before dinner we tried our luck fishing, and caught
some fine Grayling, averaging i^ lbs., with which
we fed the whole caravan. As I have said before,
Nicholas was despatched, together with the new
guide, to purchase sheep from the Kirghiz tribes in
the neighbourhood, and with strict orders to join us
beyond the karaoul on the Sumdairik River, where
we intended to camp. Early in the morning of the
following day (July 14th) we started northwards in
search of <>ame. Tents were struck with the utmost

NICHOLAS RETURNS 223

celerity now that the Kalmuks knew we were
retracing our steps towards "home, sweet home."
The weather was bright and fine, though a perpetual
wind from the west never stopped blowing. We
passed the karaoul without calling at the Kha's yoiirt,
and followed the left bank of the lake. Then crossing
the low saddle we descended into the valley of the
Sumdairik,* and pitched camp close to the stream
at 1 p.m., after a march of twenty miles. Here we
decided nolens volens to give our ponies a clay's rest.
Most of them were exhausted by constant marches,
and the place we had chosen for camp was quite
an attractive one, in the shade of a small larch wood.
Fishing was our occupation as usual, and that
afternoon we killed over eighty Grayling. The water
in the river was clear and the current strong ; large
blocks of stone in midstream formed at intervals
beautiful deep pools, which afforded capital sport.
Fish rose to any fly without distinction, though
apparently a combination with red was preferable.
During the night Nicholas returned with twelve
sheep, which he had bought for two roubles fifty
kopecks apiece (about five shillings). He had had
some difficulty in finding us, and, being in a hurry

* This is the name given to the river by the Russian Survey. The
natives call it " Kara-Adyr.'"'

224 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

to overtake us, had been on the move for over thirty
consecutive hours. We remained the whole of the
next day on the Kara-Adyr (Sumdairik), and started
only on the morning of the 16th. It was a most
uninteresting and monotonous march in search of
wild sheep country. I kept consulting our guide as
to the whereabouts of game, but met with the constant
reply of kotchkor iok (no rams). That day we
followed for some time the left bank of the Kara-Adyr
River, and, having gone a few miles, turned off to
the right. We now began advancing through higher
ground and barren, rocky tableland, where the only
living creatures were Marmots and Hares. Here my
wife, to our amazement, gave us a brilliant display of
marksmanship, for she killed a Hare at eighty yards
with Littledale's Mannlicher, the betting being twenty
to one against her. This was the only incident on
our way. We crossed two passes, and at i p.m.
reached a valley, at the head of which we discovered
a row of high ridges westwards and likely ibex
haunts. We therefore decided to pitch camp at that
place and investigate the surroundings on the follow-
ing day, notwithstanding our guide's peremptory
statement that we should find nothing. We had now
been many a day without the chance of a shot,
and our bloodthirsty instincts were again roused by

A FRESH LOT OF PONIES

225

the sight of favourable grounds. We started early
next morning, Littledale and myself, at 4 a.m., in
different directions ; but our guide's words were to be
realised. I ascended the stony slopes of a small
nullah, and spied miles of country around me without

JACOB, THE DEMITCHA, IN THE BASHKAOUS VALLEY.

finding a single animal of any kind ; then, crossing
another dividing ridge, I met with a similar result in
the next valley, and so on till I finally returned to
camp thoroughly disheartened. Here we found
twenty-five fresh ponies awaiting us. Before entering
the Kobdo valley we had despatched a couple of our
Kalmuks back towards the frontier, in order to meet
Q

226 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the ponies which we expected, and direct them to
their destination, which was the head of the Tchagan-
Kol River. Before parting with us these two men
had refused to start without arms, saying that "they
might have to defend themselves against natives and
wild beasts." Hearing this I was stupid enough to
lend them my big revolver. When we saw that both
the men and ponies failed to turn up, we naturally
thought that they had lost their way, and, a few days
later, commissioned one of our hunters to find them,
wherever they might be. The latter had now joined
us with the fresh lot of ponies, and reported that he
had come across them wandering somewhere about
the Suok Steppe ; he had also met the two armed
Kalmuks, who declared to him that they were going
back to their homes, carrying off my precious weapon
as a souvenir !

Littledale came in at about three in the afternoon,
reporting that he had seen nothing but tracks of Ibex
on very likely ground. fie thought it was hardly
worth while remaining at that place, and suggested
a start for the morrow, especially as Taba promised
better ground within a comparatively short distance.
That same day a very fine head was picked up,
measuring 60 inches along the curve by 19J, inches
in circumference at base.

AN EASY FORD 227

We struck camp on the following morning at 7 a.m.
and went for some time down the valley of a small
stream in a northern direction. Fresh ponies were of
great service to us now, and we decided to make a
long march of it. On our way we passed through
a deserted place covered with odd -shaped rounded
stones, which we took to be the moraine of an old
glacier. We also passed on our way a fairly large
lake which had probably once been about ten times
the size, for we could plainly distinguish the former
water-line on the surrounding hills. Most of the
lakes in Asia, and especially in Tibet, have that
well-defined line above their present level ; they
appear to be gradually drying away, and in time
will become reduced to small pools. Towards midday
our caravan reached the broad valley of the Tchagan-
Kol River, which we now had to cross many miles
above the place where we had had such trouble during
our journey up the Kobdo. Here there was an easy
ford ; its waters were as milky and dirty as below, and
it was hardly 150 feet wide at this place. As we
forded the river some fine snowclad peaks at the head
of the Tchagan-Kol came in sight and made us hesi-
tate whether we should not march up the stream
towards the hills, which looked as if they might afford
sport. \Ye inquired about it from our new guide, who

228 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

answered decisively that there were no sheep about
there, so we continued our journey northwards and,
having crossed the main river, began ascending one of
its small tributaries along a narrow ravine with high
banks on either side, and, having gone up a few miles,
pitched camp at 3 p.m. The weather was still fine
and exceedingly hot.

We were off again next day, starting as usual at
about 7 a.m., still heading northwards parallel to the
main Muss-Taou range, and crossed a fairly high
pass into loftier ground. It rained almost the whole
of that afternoon, and we pitched camp on the plateau
at an altitude of 8,400 feet. On our way we saw
Antelope of the larger kind. The end of that
day's march cheered us up a little, for, as we entered
a narrow valley with a small lake in the middle, many
heads of sheep strewed the ground, and it seemed
possible that we had struck a new vein. Close to the
place where we had pitched camp stood two dirty
yourts, whose inhabitants were so frightened at the
sight of us that they all disappeared behind the rocks
on our approach, and did not reappear until next
morning. We decided that night that we should start
early next day, Littledale and I, to try our fortune, for
to the north and north-west rose high mountains and
grassy rolling boulders which we had not seen for

A SNOWSTORM

229

a long- time. Here grumbling began again amongst
our Kalmuks, who threatened to march next day ;
they had probably been discouraged by the bad
weather, and especially by the cold that suddenly
came on during the night, for when we awoke next
morning the ground was covered with three inches
of snow.

"HEADS OF SHKKI' strewed the ground."

Next morning, July 20th, notwithstanding the men's
threats, we started at 7 a.m., Littledale and I, in
different directions. The snowstorm was so strong at
3 a.m. that there was no question of leaving camp.
The wind was blowing a gale from the south-west,
and as might have been expected, I returned in the
afternoon without having seen even tracks of any

23o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

kind. I was thoroughly damped and numbed by cold,
having been caught in a very severe snowstorm at the
head of a valley. Littledale brought in the meat of
a young ram which he had killed for the pot. He
had seen two or three young ones, but no good old
males had come in sight. From the intense heat
which had prevailed during the last few days in the
lower country we felt again as if we were in the
middle of winter. We now decided to start on the
next morning, having sent Joseph to Kosh-Agatch
with a letter to our friend the Zaissan Semion, asking
him to supply us with fresh men, horses, and sheep at
a place which we thought would be a permanent
camp, and where Taba now promised we should get
good shooting. Joseph was also to bring back stores,
of which we were running short. Constant rain and
snow accompanied us our whole day's march, but Taba
seemed now to know the way, and took upon him-
self to guide us towards success. We marched down
the valley, turning westwards towards the Siberian
frontier, and camped at the bottom of a wide valley
known to the Kalmuks as the Olonur Valley, at the
head of which is the Nam Daba Pass, the Russo-
Chinese divide. Apparently on our map the river we
camped on was the Karaimaty. We were fairly
drenched, as we pitched camp at 11 a.m., rain and

START WITH RENEWED SPIRITS 231

sleet never ceasing the whole day. We were now at
an altitude of about 8,200 feet. In the afternoon we
caught sight of two men on horseback on the sky-line
in front of lis. These men presently came up and
informed us that the Zaissan was now in search of us
not far away with forty fresh horses and ten men.
They also intimated that we were within two days'
march of Kosh-Agatch. This news was quite a
revelation to us, as the map upon which we relied
showed a much greater distance. We intended to try
our new ground on the following day, but another
snowstorm during the night prevented us from doing
so, though we were now very anxious to explore the
new country round us, especially as Taba appeared to
be so confident.

We spent the whole of July 22nd waiting for the
weather to clear up ; but it was to be another lost day,
and fishing in a small lake a couple of miles below
camp was our only occupation. Towards evening the
weather improved, and next morning, July 23rd, we
were awoke at 3 a.m. and started uphill with renewed
spirits in different directions, Littledale taking the
ground to the west of our camp, whilst I went north-
east towards the Siberian frontier. Taba, as usual,
accompanied me. He now seemed to know the
ground fairly well, and conducted me up the valley

232 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

for some time, when turning north we ascended the
long grassy slope till we reached a series of plateatix
with rolling boulders here and there, separated from
each other by deep ravines. Snowy peaks could be
seen in the distance before us, as well as westwards
where Littledale had gone, and where the ground
appeared higher than where we stood. At first no
animal came in sight but a herd of the larger ante-
lopes. As we advanced along these fine pasture
grounds the valleys became deeper and rocks more
frequent till, in about a couple of hours, we reached
some very likely Ibex ground. From here I could
plainly distinguish the hills dividing two great empires
and which, according to my idea, were most probably
the southern slopes of the Happy Valley. From the
place where we now stood we could command a view
over a large stretch of broken country, and I soon
discovered, on the opposite slopes, nine or ten small
brown patches, which I at first took for wild sheep,
but which, examined through the glasses, appeared
to be a herd of Ibex feeding about a mile away from
us. There were six small males and three good
heads amongst them. There being no shelter from
our side, it was a question of making a very long
ddtour in order to get the chance of a shot ; but
I was very keen to secure a specimen or two of

IN FULL SIGHT OF OUR PREY 233

Capra Sibirica, so we decided to attempt the stalk.
We retraced our steps, and, leaving the ponies with
the other Kalmuks, I started with Taba towards
a range of steep crags, amongst which we thought
we might advance in safety ; but the ground became
very difficult, and it was a long job to reach the other
side of the valley, for there was many a deep ravine
between us and the rocky ridge, while the ascents
were exceedingly steep. Loose stones were being
continually displaced by us, and the india-rubber soles
on my shoes were fairly worn out in less than an
hour's time. After many a scramble we succeeded
in covering the ground between us and the rocks,
but here our real difficulties began. We sat down
to rest on the top of the ridge, and spied another
herd of Ibex, females and young ones this time, over
seventy in number, at the bottom of the valley about
a mile below us. Leaving them to our right, we
went down the crags which from the top seemed quite
inaccessible, but, being in full sight of our coveted
prey, we could not possibly follow the ridge, which
would have been much easier work. About a hundred
yards below it, after very careful and dangerous going,
we found we were out of sight, but here again numer-
ous long and steep snow - slides had to be crossed.
Some of them were fairly wide, and the snow was

234 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

still hard from the previous night's frost, so that there
was no other means of getting across them but to
take a long run and negotiate them by the strength
of the impulse, landing on the other side some fifty
or sixty yards below. Some of these snow - shoots
were fairly twenty yards wide, and the precipice
below was by no means a cheering sight. Little
Taba was not to be stopped by this, and several
times one of these snow-slides divided us, my hesi-
tation making me wait before the decisive rush. In
some places the snow had given way, and I could dis-
tinguish some yards below long smooth ice cylinders
that had been formed round the trickling water,
whose hollow murmur might have given a shudder
to the bravest mountaineer. At all events the snow
did not give way under our feet, and we managed
to get over the disagreeable passages with bruised
feet and torn rubber soles. Another half-hour up
a steep slope, covered with sharp-edged stones and
shingle, brought us to a low pass leading into the
valley where our Ibex had been spied by us, being
within about 400 yards of where we had last seen
them feeding. Here we halted to rest. The grassy
slope that stretched itself before us contained few
hiding-places, and the question now arose whether
we should wait for the animals to come towards us

THE ASIATIC IBEX.
(Capra Silnrka.)

A SUCCESSFUL STALK 237

and hide under shelter of the rocks in the middle
of the day (which was the most likely alternative),
or to advance as cautiously as possible. The wind
being- steady, I chose the latter course. We had now
been about one and a half hours out of sight of the
herd, and it was quite presumable that they had by
this time shifted. Instructing Taba to keep a few yards
behind, I started creeping up the grassy slope, and very
soon found myself within what I thought was shoot-
ing range of the Ibex. Two or three minutes' more
creeping, and a fine pair of horns showed before me
on the sky-line at 200 yards. I had noticed from
the opposite side of the valley that one of the old
bucks was much lighter than the others, and carried
a somewhat finer head, so naturally it was the one
I intended, if possible, to secure. Seeing now only
a pair of horns, I could not judge to which of the
three they belonged, but when, a moment later, their
owner got up and gave me a broadside chance,
although it was not my light-coloured friend, I could
not refrain from taking my shot. Putting up the
200 yards sight, and drawing it as fine as possible,
I fired and rolled him over. Jumping up in a second,
I just caught sight of them pelting downhill like
lii_>-htninL>-, and fired a second time at the lighter one
but missed him. When they had all disappeared

238 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

behind a ridge, we went up to see our quarry, and
found him to be a very fair buck, his horns measuring
38 inches along the curve by 10 inches in girth,
the wide spread of his horns giving them a larger
appearance at a distance. Rewarded at last ! This
was indeed my first successful day since we had
reached the Kobdo River, and both Littledale and I
had yearned for a shot. The horns seemed to me to
resemble in every way those of a Cashmere Ibex.
On inquiring of Taba about their comparative size,
I understood him to say that he had seen much larger
ones in the district, so that there is every probability
that they run to fifty inches and more in length. My
little hunter would have it that we should see many
more of them before we left. Having grallocked our
Ibex and left him with the ponies, we went on in the
direction of camp.

The country being still favourable for game we
kept on the look-out, but saw no signs of animals
of any kind till we reached the bottom of a deep
nullah, where Taba suddenly spotted two or three
Ibex on the top of a ridge to our left. As it was
still early in the day another stalk was imminent.
Circumventing the ridge on which we had located
the animals, we found ourselves presently, Taba and
I, in a small corrie about 600 yards long, up which

A HERD OF SIXTY RAMS 239

we had to toil in order to face the direction in which
the Ibex were heading. This took us nearly an hour,
and as I was just reaching the plateau I suddenly
saw a pair of horns coming towards me at less than
fifty yards in front ; but unluckily I was quite out
of breath, having walked very fast, and instead of
waiting, I carelessly took my shot at the only part
of the beast in sight, and naturally missed. When
I saw him next he was rushing downhill some
1 50 yards below me, and great was my amazement
when I found that this was my light-coated friend
whom I had already missed before. As well as I
could judge, his horns must have measured well over
forty inches. His companion, whom I just caught
sight of, was a young buck hardly worth shooting.
I was much disgusted at this performance, so was
Taba. We sat down to wait for the ponies, which
presently came up with the head of the Ibex, and
remounting we started back for camp, reaching the
tents at 5 p.m. Curiously enough Littledale came
back almost simultaneously, bringing with him the
head of a fair ram (51 inches along the curve by
19] girth). He told us that he had come across
a herd of sixty rams, almost all with good heads,
and another lot of fifteen. These were the largest
herds of rams we had as vet seen, and we decided

24o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

that this camp should be a permanent one, game
being plentiful in the neighbourhood.

I found our caravan greatly increased on my return
by the arrival of the Zaissan Semion with forty fresh
horses and a dozen Kalmuks with a demitcha, who
were to replace our men. He had also brought with
him a Khirghiz chief, Abduldho by name, whose
martial appearance and stately looks made a great
impression upon our Kalmuks. In token of friend-
ship he had brought us thirteen sheep as a present,
and told us through our interpreter many quaint
stories of his nomadic life. He was the hereditary
and autocratic ruler over about a thousand Kirghiz,
and owned immense numbers of horses, sheep, and
cattle. He had been for years past under Chinese
rule and a vassal of the Chinese Emperor, but
finding no suitable ground for his purpose on the
Celestial side, he had shifted quarters and settled
down on Siberian territory, having sent in a petition
to the Russian authorities with a view to becoming
a subject of the Czar. Apparently, however, his
presence was not wanted in Russia, for not only
was there no answer forthcoming from the Altai
governor, but orders had been given to turn him
out of Russian territory, where constant frictions took
place between his Kirghiz and the native Kalmuks.

THE ZAISSAN SEMION 241

He now applied to me for protection. I said I could
do nothing for him, excepting to hand over the paper
he gave me to General Boldyreff at Barnaoul. He
had brought over with him several of his subjects,
one of whom seemed so intelligent that we asked
his permission to keep him till we returned to Kosh-
Agatch, to which he readily agreed. We found the
man very useful and handy in every way. The
position of the Kirghiz Khan was naturally a very
difficult one, for he now found himself in the dilemma
either of returning to China, which was hardly possible
under the circumstances, or of remaining in Siberia,
where he was not wanted. I trust that by this
time the question has been settled in his favour.
As for the Zaissan Semion, he seemed to be in
very high spirits as usual, and was received by our
Kalmuks with great signs of joy and deference.
He told us that he had learnt from some stray
Mongols that all our horses had died on the way, and
that we had been compelled for the past fortnight
to march on foot. This news, he said, had made
him hurry in search of us, and he was now glad to
see that we were not in such straits as had been
represented to him. He complimented us on our
day's success, and warmly welcomed us back into his
territory. The men he had brought, he said, were

242 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

thoroughly reliable, and the demitcha he promised
would be more energetic, and keep the men in better
order than the one he had granted us previously.
He said he would go to his home on the following-
day, his duties calling him back, but promised to
meet us at Kosh-Agatch, and thence accompany us
to his house on the Oulagan River, where he promised
us CTood Maral shooting.

We refrained from reporting to the Zaissan about
the constant grumbling that had taken place amongst
our Kalmuks, but told him of the two men who had
gone away with my revolver. He promised to look
into the matter, and said that we should now have
no more trouble. We parted with our men that
evening, and promised the Kirghiz chief to visit his
encampment on our way home, upon which the two
chiefs bade us farewell.

As we sat down to dinner in high spirits we talked
over the day's events, and turned in early in order
to make a start as usual at 3 a.m. on the following
morning-.

CHAPTER VII.

Olonur Camp — Stalking Sheep — Weather-beaten horns of Maral
found — Lake Valley — Hares and Brahminy Geese seen — Joseph
returns with Stores— My Wife goes out Stalking— Littledale's Record
Head— Thunderstorms — I wound a fine Ram— We shift Camp —
Taba's successful Ruse — Unsuccessful Pursuit— Our Camp under the
Nam Daba Pass — Stampede of the Pack-horses— A good Stalk on
August 2nd — Shift Camp over Frontier— More Stalking — The
Tarkhaty River — Kirghiz Encampment with great Herds of Horses
— I get a good Ibex — Return to Camp on the Tchagan-Burgaza River.

Early on July 24th I was awakened by my faithful
Cristo with the good tidings that the weather was fine
and that the ponies were saddled. We accordingly
started, Littledale and I, after a hasty breakfast,
towards the sheep-ground which my companion had
inspected on the previous day, and where we found
there was sufficient room for both of us. I was
anxious to get a glimpse at the herd of sixty rams
which Littledale had seen, and perhaps get a shot
at a fine old patriarch. Wild sheep had been care-
fully avoiding me for the previous three weeks, and
my eager anticipation of sport may be readily under-
stood. From camp we rode down the main valley
243

244 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

till we reached a lateral one, into which we entered.
Great numbers of sheep's skulls strewed the ground,
especially under a mass of precipitous rocks, close
to which we passed, and where apparently a regular
slaughter of wild sheep had taken place. The valley
through which we were passing was bordered on either
side by low, grassy boulders, with rocky pinnacles
here and there, the whole place appearing to afford
a capital winter resort for the animals which were
probably still on the higher ground just perceptible
in front of us. This was our destination. A small
stream trickled down the middle of the valley, form-
ing little swamps here and there, through which our
ponies had to wade. About a couple of hours
brought us to a place where we separated in different
directions, Littledale taking the country south, whilst
I turned to the right up an easy slope northwards.
Old weather-beaten fragments of horns of the Maral
lay on the ground in some quantity. These stags
had probably frequented the country years ago, and,
living in such a timberless region, were easily shot
down by the merciless natives. On reaching a low
ridge, we came in sight of a parallel valley, rather
broader than the one we had just left, with numerous
small lakes glittering in the middle of it. The
pastures here were as good as could be desired, and

NOT AN ANIMAL IN SIGHT

245

a view of fine stony corries at the head of it promised
a successful result to our exploration. But though
Taba and I carefully spied the valley for its entire
length from the commanding ridge on which we
stood, not an animal came in sight ; so we decided
to cross it and examine the valley beyond. Here

OI.ONUR CAM1

again we met with similar want of success ; with the
exception of some hares and a few Brahminy geese on
the lakes, nothing was to be seen. Taba suggested
we should go straight up to the higher ground and
inspect the plateau, where the snow was still left
in patches from the previous winter. The ascent
up the stony slopes proved a very difficult one ; our

246 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

horses refused to advance ; so, dismounting, I sent
them to the head of the valley, where, at the bottom
of an immense amphitheatre of high mountains, lay
a larger lake, the shore of which was to be our
rendezvous for the evening. An hour's scramble
brought us, Taba and myself, to the top of the com-
manding ridge, from which a broad, stony tableland,
gradually sloping away from us, extended for three
or four miles. Here we sat down to spy. Presently,
with the aid of my Zeiss glass, I made out a sus-
picious-looking brown speck, then another, then a
third, till I could count forty of them some two
miles below us. Sure enough these were sheep at
last, and very probably belonged to the herd Little-
dale had seen the day before. On more careful
inspection we found them to be all rams, lying on
the plateau in open ground. We could not, from that
distance, make out the size of their horns, but de-
cided to approach them nearer, under shelter of the
crags. The wind was blowing steadily in our faces
from the west, which was decidedly in our favour,
but the question arose whether we should find any
possible way of hiding ourselves on the flat table-
land, over which we should have to crawl for at least
six or seven hundred yards. We advanced under
shelter of the rocks in very broken ground, having now

ANOTHER STALK 247

and then to descend a steep gully, the cliffs in front
of us being utterly inaccessible, then climb up again,
and so on for a couple of hours, till we reached the
end of the ridge, from which we could distinguish
the sheep quite plainly. Some of the rams carried
magnificent horns, which served to encourage us on
our somewhat daring enterprise. We now crept
down for some time, and presently found ourselves
on the flat grassy steppe upon which the animals
were lying. Here we discovered that we could
advance out of sight of them without having to
crawl, there being a slight depression of the ground
where they lay. If by chance one of them had
stood up, we should immediately have been dis-
covered. Taba led the way in a most confident
manner, halting at places in order to look through
the glass, and see whether any bit of horn was
visible ; but no. All went well for the next half-hour.
Two or three hollows, of which we availed ourselves,
came in very opportunely, and we soon found it
necessary to crawl on all fours, and continue the
advance in this uncomfortable manner. We were
now, as I thought, within range ; but distances on
the steppe are so deceiving that we continued in this
way for more than another half-hour, moving on as
cautiously as we could, without catching sight of the
coveted horns.

248 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

At this stage I deemed it advisable to leave Taba
behind, lying flat on his stomach, and advanced alone,
though still the grassy line in front of me was unbroken
by any object overlooking it. I was gazing intently
in front of me, when suddenly I perceived a move-
ment to my right, and there, within forty yards, stood
two or three rams quietly feeding up, and already
almost between Taba and myself. This naturally
spoiled my chance of picking out the largest, for
they might at any moment get a whiff of my wind
and be off; in fact, I was now almost in the midst
of them. Turning round, therefore, as cautiously
as I could, and cocking my rifle, I pointed it in
their direction with the intention of choosing my
animal as they passed, or, at any rate, of getting
my shot at the first alarm. Suddenly one of them
lifted his head up, another followed his example,
and a third. They had evidently become suspicious,
so nothing was to be done but to take my chance.
One of them carried a very fair head, and as he
was standing broadside -on, I let go at him, and
rolled him over ; the others disappeared like light-
ning. Jumping up, I fired at a second as the
herd streamed downhill, but the result was a clean
miss. In the hustle I was unable to pick out
another good head, and, firing at random, saw one

A FAIRLY GOOD RAM

249
the sheep

tumble over. When Taba came up
had already placed a mile between us. My first
ram proved to be a fairly good one, though the
ends of his horns were, unluckily, broken. Their
girth at base taped almost 20 inches ; their length
along the curve 45! inches.

"two or three rams quietly FEEDIN'C.

250 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

In the meantime heavy clouds had gathered, and
the weather looked threatening-, so we hurriedly
grallocked the animal, and started back with the
intention of sending" our Kalmuk with the pony
to bring- back the head and meat. Rain now
began pouring- down in torrents, and before we had
gone half a mile we found ourselves thoroughly
drenched from head to foot ; in fact, the rain never
ceased for the rest of the day, and when we got
down to the Lake Valley and found our ponies,
there was no question of sending the man after
my booty. The second animal I had dropped was
a young one, and not worth bringing back. We
reached camp at about 6 p.m., none the worse for
the dreadful soaking we had undergone, and found
Littledale returned. He had seen only ewes on his
ground, about 200 in number. Thus ended my
second meeting with kotchkor. I had greatly en-
joyed an exciting stalk, and had never before found
myself so close to them.

The following day I remained in camp, sending
a couple of men to bring back the meat of my two
rams killed on the previous day, as well as the head
of the large one. Though the weather was still in-
clement, Littledale decided to explore the ground
where I had shot my Ibex. The two native chiefs

A NEW HUNTER 251

had left for their respective homes with our old
horses and men. Towards evening- Littledale came
back and reported that he had found a herd of
seventeen rams, and had followed them over two
or three ridges, but unsuccessfully. The night was
exceedingly cold, promising a fine day for the
morrow. I consequently started early, on July 26th,
with a new hunter, whom the Zaissan had brought
with him. and of whom he had given me a good
account. My intention was to try to find the herd
Littledale had seen on the previous day. We passed
over the same rolling hills as on my first attempt
from this camp, and on reaching a small river
followed it down for about eight miles, then ascend-
ing a steep slope, where, according to Littledale's
account, he had left the rams. I began spying the
country beyond, but though I carefully inspected
every corner of the nullah, my glass revealed nothing.
On the sky-line to my left, however, and high above
us, a moving object attracted my attention ; I found
it to be a fair ram, and, presuming that there might
be others behind the ridge, we started in his direction.
The wind was very unsteady, and we were obliged,
therefore, to circumvent the hill for a couple of hours
in order to get to leeward. Leaving the ponies under
a rocky ridge suggestive of Ibex, I continued to

252 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

advance, when suddenly, about eighty yards below us,
an average-sized ram started up and stood staring at
us for some time. Unluckily, he had taken us un-
awares, and, my rifle being in its case, it took me
a few seconds to get ready to fire. While thus
engaged, the animal jumped over to another rock,
and stopping again gave me a doubtful chance. As
I fired he disappeared among the crags, and though
we rushed down to the place where we had seen
him last, we were unable to find him again. This
was indeed aggravating, for I had probably frightened
the one we had been following, and on resuming; our
course we naturally found that he had disappeared.
We continued our search over the rolling stones at
an altitude of about 11,000 feet, with many ups and
downs, examining numerous corries and gullies, with
the only result of finding a herd of six young Ibex
bucks, which were lying a few hundred yards below
us, and which we might have easily approached if
they had been worth shooting.

At 2 p.m. we gave up all hope for that day, and
started back for camp, which we only reached at
six, after a four hours' long and dreary ride. On
the way back I found a half-rotten sheep's head of
gigantic size, and putting the tape to it I found it
to measure 63 inches in length by 20 inches girth.

AGAIN ON THE WARPATH 253

This was the largest I had ever seen. Littledale
had returned with a small head, and reported a
herd of about twenty, with one good one, as he
thought, but he failed in his stalk.

It rained the whole of the next day, so everyone
remained in camp. Towards evening Joseph came
back from Kosh-Agatch, but to our great disappoint-
ment brought neither letters nor papers. We had
instructed him to bring back a good supply of
maccaroni, as we had run short of vegetables ; but
instead of that we found several boxes of matches,
which had been packed up in similar cases, hence
the error — most aggravating to empty stomachs.

The following day the weather cleared up again,
and at 4 a.m. I was once more on the warpath. This
time I turned my attention to the darker-looking hills,
which I thought were a continuation of the backbone
of the Happy Valley. In these regions I had found
both Ibex and Sheep, and there was every reason
to believe that I might come across more. I intended
to go further this time, and investigate the numerous
nullahs I had as yet only seen from afar. As my
wife was very anxious to get a shot, Littledale
obligingly suggested that he should take her out,
and they started together in the direction of the
Lake Valley. We actually rode, my hunters and I,

254 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

till i i a.m. without seeing" a single animal in any of
the nullahs ; but on reaching fresh ground, and follow-
ing a high rocky ridge, I suddenly heard a shuffle
on the snow amongst the boulders below us, and
caught sight of two sheep that had jumped out of
the rocks and were making downhill. By the time
I was ready to shoot they were fairly 200 yards
away. Another running shot was my only chance,
and as I fired I distinctly saw the larger one stagger,
though he only stopped a second and continued his
course downhill, and then up again and over the
ridge. I naturally rushed across the corrie and
reached the place where he had disappeared, only
in time to see him pop over the next ridge. It was
a desperate chase, and we saw him once more when
he was galloping steadily on. The pursuit had to
be abandoned, for it was now fairly late in the after-
noon, and we had gone away from camp a very long
distance that day. Painfully retracing our steps, we
were returning home without precaution over the
ground we had passed in the morning, and where
we had found nothing, when suddenly my hunter
pointed out a couple of fine old rams staring at us
from a slope above, and presently starting off at a
sharp trot. In my state of excitement I decided
to follow them, which of course was a very rash

DECEPTIVE GROUND 255

enterprise, for frightened sheep go a long way. I
left the ponies behind a small boulder, and hurrying
on in their direction found them again a mile further
on. They had now quieted down, and were care-
lessly feeding, though looking back now and again.
Leaving my Kalmuk, I crept on behind a row of
small rocks, but, alas ! the wind was shifty, and I
had not advanced half an hour before I saw them
start off again. My hopes had gone for that day.
I now found myself in broken ground, and had
entirely lost the direction from which I had come,
so that I was at a loss to know where I had left
the ponies. The sheep had engrossed my whole
attention, and I had failed to notice my direction,
the ground being everywhere very much alike.
Strange to say, I could hardly be over a mile away
from my hunters, and yet, though I shouted at the
top of my voice, I could get no answer. I wandered
about in this manner in every direction, and was
about giving up the search, when I suddenly found
the ponies and men quietly lying down within fifty
yards behind the boulder where I had left them.
This was not the first time I had found the ground
most deceiving in those regions, and I decided hence-
forward never to be left alone again on the steppe.
It was now nearly dusk, and it was not until 9 p.m.

256 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

that we found ourselves safely back. Littledale and
my wife had just returned. They gave me an account
of how they had got within 200 yards of a herd of
rams which were already on the move ; she had fired
five shots at the running animals, but none apparently
were hit. Littledale added that he had noticed two
or three magnificent heads amongst them, and was
most anxious to go out next day in search of them.

Weather being fine, on the morning of July 29th,
Littledale and I started towards the higher range
to the left of camp. My intention was to try the
ground straight ahead over the Nam Daba Pass.
On my way, Taba pointed out to me a couple of
rams, three or four hundred yards in front of us, of
which one was a fine old fellow, whilst the other, a
smaller, seemed to be wounded. Creeping up to
within 150 yards, further advance seemed impossible,
so I took my shot at the smaller animal and ended
his sufferings by rolling him over. As this was
close to the ground where my wife was shooting the
previous day, I concluded that the beast had been
wounded by her, and accordingly sent my second man
with the head and meat back to camp with the un-
expected tidings.

Taba and I then advanced in the direction of the
larger sheep, which we found again making off

A STALK FROM ABOVE 257

desperately. Further pursuit was naturally useless,
so we turned westwards of the pass, and presently
spied five rams standing on a patch of snow, half-
way up a stony nullah. The wind being shifty,
Taba suggested we should wait awhile before choos-
ing the direction for the dttour we should have to
make. Unluckily, flies and mosquitoes were very
tiresome that clay, as we found, and the sheep had
evidently retired to the stretch of snow in order
to avoid them. I noticed through my glass that one
of the five carried a very desirable head, and seeing
they would not move, I decided to circumvent them,
and come clown upon them from above. It took us
two good hours to get well round them, and when,
creeping down as cautiously as I could, I reached a
protruding ledge of rock, from which I thought I
should be within range of them, I could see, on peep-
ing over, part of the patch of snow still about 400
yards below me. I therefore crawled on all fours,
tearing my hands on the sharp edges of stones, till
I found myself within about a hundred yards of the
place where we had located them.

At this moment a gust of wind blew down the
gully right in our backs, and a second after the five
animals came in siorht moving downhill. I im-
mediately fired at the best ram as he rushed past

258 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

me, but a running shot is always doubtful. Three
other consecutive shots were of no avail. As we
watched them, however, through our glasses, Taba
suddenly shouted, " baalou" which means "wounded,"
and sure enough there was the big fellow struggling
to keep up with the rest with one of his hind legs
broken. We saw him cross the valley, and, to our
great dismay, ascend the opposite slope, and dis-
appear over the ridge. Another chase similar to that of
yesterday was our lot. Though we found blood-tracks,
and followed them for a couple of miles, we eventually
had to give up the pursuit, and returned to camp. The
vitality and energy of these animals when wounded is
extraordinary. Though the slope was exceedingly
steep, and the animal's hind leg was shattered, he
never stopped once, but galloped steadily away. I
was fated to find that same ram again, wound him
once more in the shoulder, and eventually lose him.
According to a careful estirnate, the length of his
horns should have been well-nigh sixty inches. I
reached the tents at 8 p.m. in very low spirits. The
ladies told me on my return that Littledale had sent
in, through his second Kalmuk, a note which he had
scribbled down on a flat bit of stone with Hint, in
the absence of ordinary materials, with the following
words : " Wounded big sheep ; send small tent and

A MONGOLIAN THUNDERSTORM 259

stores." This was indeed good news. The ladies
had ordered the Kalmuk back with the necessary
things for a night out.

In the evening we witnessed a Mongolian thunder-
storm,— very different to European ones ! It seemed
as if the end of the world had come. The continued
rattling of the thunder, blending with the noise of the
gale, and interspersed with long flashes of lightning,
combined to produce a terrible, yet magnificent, display
not easily to be forgotten.

On the following morning, there being no sign of
Littledale, and the sky having cleared, I sent Taba
out in the hope that he might find some clue to the
whereabouts of my wounded sheep, while I remained
in camp in eager expectation. At 4 p.m. Taba
returned, after an unsuccessful search. Half an hour
later we perceived a small party riding towards us ;
this was Littledale with his two men. He brought
in the finest head of Ovis ammon that had as yet
been obtained, and it proved to be the record. Its
measurements, as taken on the spot, were the follow-
ing : Length, 63 inches; girth, 19^ inches; from tip
to tip, 41^ inches. He gave us a most graphic
account of his two days' experiences. He had come
across the same herd which my wife had saluted
with five shots from his " Mannlicher," and to which

26o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

herd belonged the young ram I had finished off for
her. He had waited a considerable time before the
animals fed into stalkable ground, taking the utmost
precaution not to miss the chance of securing the
magnificent old ram he had "spotted" with his glass.
Having got above them, the whole herd passed below
him, and as the large one came up broadside-on, he
had fired twice, shattering his hind quarters ; but this,
he found, was not sufficient to stop him, and as he
had only been able to take his shot late in the after-
noon, he had decided to spend the night out, and
follow him early the next day. The last he had
seen of him at dusk, much to his discomfiture, was
that, after having lain down several times, he had
finally risen and walked slowly over a ridge. Next
morning, at dawn, he was found lying some hundreds
of yards below the ridge in the next corrie, still alive.
He had to stalk him again, and put another bullet
into him before he could secure him. The wretched
animal must have spent a most uncomfortable night ;
but such is the vitality of these animals that only a
mortal wound will stop them.

Next day we shifted camp westwards. Though
I felt much depressed over the last days' failures, I
decided to try once more my old ground in an eastern
direction, on the chance of finding the two old rams

A GRAND OLD RAM 263

I had come across there. Little Taba, who again
accompanied me, was still confident and sure of
success. We were to return in the evening to our
next camping-ground, which was to be on the other
side below the Nam Daba Pass. On reaching the
plateau, after an hour's ride from camp, we very soon
discovered a grand old ram lying amongst rocks
about two miles north of our camp. We thought
he had naturally seen us, as his head was turned in
our direction, and we were in full sight of him on
horseback at about 500 yards. Taba's idea was that
he might be my wounded beast, for his mighty horns
greatly resembled those of the one I had come across
a couple of days previously. According to Taba, the
only possible way to approach him was to ride on in
full view and slowly drop out of our saddles, whilst
his attention would be distracted by the ponies, which
were to be led in an opposite direction by my second
Kalmuk. This ruse was crowned with success, for
as we crept along behind the rocks we could see the
animal watching the ponies intently as they were
being led away. In this manner, and crawling on
all fours, I got without difficulty within a hundred
yards of his resting-place. As I drew nearer I judged
his horns, which were on the sky-line just before me,
to be close upon sixty inches, and just as I was pre-

264 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

paring- to shoot, he started up and gave me a very
doubtful chance, of which I availed myself, however,
and fired. As he made off I could plainly see that
I had smashed his shoulder, and that besides one of
his hind-legs was stiff, which confirmed our suspicion
that he was our old friend which I had wounded on
the 29th. To our dismay he continued moving on at
a slow pace, looking round now and again, till he-
disappeared over a ridge. The ponies had now come
up, and we galloped across the corrie as hard as we
could go. We came up just in time to see my ram
walking over the next ridge. On we went at full
gallop, heading towards a mass of rock, under which
we hoped he might lie down ; but, alas ! nothing-
would induce him to stop, and again we saw him
toiling up the opposite slope. He must have noticed
our proceedings, and felt that he was being pursued.
We then decided to dodge round out of sight of him,
and, following up a small stream, meet him before he
got to the next ridge, for which he was evidently
making. The ponies were now exhausted, but we
urged them on, and dismounted close to the bed
of the stream. Half an hour brought us to the top
of the ridge, below which I soon spied my animal
lying on the slope where we had last seen him.
Approaching with the greatest caution, I was just

A LUCKLESS PURSUIT 265

about to fire, when he again rose and started off;
but here I was dead beat, and my two shots must
have been clean misses. Looking" round I saw no
sign of Taba ; as for the ram, he had trotted across
the nullah, and I remained perfectly helpless with
my second Kalmuk and the half-dead ponies, who
refused to advance another inch. I continued my
pursuit, however, and on coming in sight of the
next corrie found nothing in it, neither man nor beast.
Having spied every bit of ground, I stopped, for
further advance was useless. Retracing my steps
to the stream I was now in search of Taba, and
still hoped that he might bring back good news.
On the other side of the river stood tiers of in-
accessible crags, to which, if the ram had betaken
himself, further pursuit would be out of the question,
and this, I feared, was the case. Heavy showers
now came on, and I resolved to return home ; my
luck had evidently deserted me. On reaching once
more the scene of our wild pursuit, I suddenly caught
sight of Taba and his pony on the very top of the
opposite hill. Beckoning to him to come down, he
explained to me in great excitement that he had
seen the animal make for the bed of the stream, and
had tried unsuccessfully to cut him off from the other
side, where we should necessarily have lost him in

266 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the rocks. He said he had been within twenty yards
of the beast, shouting- and throwing stones at him,
but that he had held his own, and steadily crossing
the stream had disappeared amongst the crags. Taba
had followed him for some time, and then given up
the chase. These sheep were, indeed, the toughest
animals I had ever come across, and this day's ex-
periences furnished the best proof of it, for the ram
had gone on for miles with a hind-leer broken and
a shattered shoulder, and yet our united efforts had
been unable to secure him. We reached camp,
after a long and dreary journey, at 6 p.m., and found
the tents pitched in a small, narrow gully running
northwards, on the Siberian side of the Nam Daba
Pass. We were now about twenty-five versts distant
from our last camp, and at an altitude of 8,000 feet.
I heard from the ladies that the march had not been
made without incident, for the new horses, which had
been accustomed to remain feeding' all day, were
exceedingly loth to carry any baggage or to shift
quarters. In consequence of this many of them
stampeded, with the result of throwing over their
loads. One in particular was a most vicious animal,
and Littledale's largest sheep's head having been
packed on him, the horns several times were in
great danger of being broken. It had begun raining

OVER ROLLING STONES 267

in the forenoon, and had continued steadily all day,
so that the tents had to be pitched under a severe
drizzle, which was by no means useful for our bedding.
We hoped to be able to get out shooting early next
morning, but the weather prevented this ; in fact, it
poured all day, and it was not until the evening that
the clouds gradually dispersed. Our cattle-driver had
not turned up in the afternoon, and want of meat was
beginning to be felt, when at last he arrived, saying
that he had lost his way in the hills, and had been
in search of us the whole day. I was much dis-
concerted about the big ram which J had wounded,
though I still cherished hopes of finding him again,
notwithstanding that we were now a good six hours'
ride from the ground where we lost him.

Next morning, August 2nd, the weather being-
bright, we both started early to our new ground.
Littledale went up a valley in a southern direction
towards the higher snow-covered hills, whilst I went
westwards into country as yet unexplored by us. It
was freezing hard when we issued from our tents, and
the day was a promising one. We rode for three
hours, Taba and I, over nasty rolling stones, and
across swampy ravines, without catching sight of a
single animal. On reaching a row of grey, craggy
hills, Taba suddenly stopped me, saying it was no use

268 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

continuing in that direction, because he thought there
was a very poor chance of game, and suggested that
we should turn back as quickly as possible and re-
visit our old Lake Valley, where we had found so
much game from our previous camp. We raced back
accordingly, as hard as our steeds could carry us,
reaching camp at 9 a.m., having lost the whole of the
morning, and, changing horses, quickly started in the
opposite direction.

We ascended a long slope during the next two
hours. As it was very steep and wet, my horse
slipped and fell, bringing me down with him, but
luckily without serious consequences. On reaching
the nullahs with which we were already familiar, I
began spying, and straight away found three rams
lying about half a mile below us. Taba, who was
slightly in front of me, had failed to notice them,
and having shown himself too quickly on the sky-
line, made them gallop away. Great was my dis-
appointment, as one of them seemed to carry a good
head. We let them go, as experience had taught us
it was of no avail pursuing scared animals, and follow-
ing another low ridge eastwards, we presently came
within sight of an old ram standing motionless on a
rock about a mile in front of us. The wind being
steady, we dropped down and decided to try for him.

AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS 269

We were now on a small plateau, at the head of
two parallel grassy valleys, separated by low, rolling
boulders, from which sprang here and there rows of
rocky buttresses resembling ruins of old forts. These
afforded us capital shelter, under which we were able
to hide as we moved cautiously on. We continued
in this manner for over half an hour, reaching a last
clump of rocks about 500 yards from our coveted
quarry, which was still standing like a statue. A slant-
ing grassy saddle now only divided us, and we could
advance no further without risk of being discovered ;
so we lay down to wait till the beast should move out
of sight. The heat was intense that day, and the
sky cloudless, and it was evident that the ram was
pondering over which of the rocks he should choose
to lie under in the shade.

As we lay awaiting further developments, a couple
of young rams came up to within fifteen yards of us,
probably likewise in search of shade. We both held
our breath, fearing to disturb them, and they slowly
passed us without having noticed our presence. These
had distracted our attention for some time, and when
we looked back for the big ram he was not to be seen.
We accordingly started to cross the intervening ground,
and on reaching the rocks where we had seen him
standings we found that there was another row of

27o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

buttresses further down, and as we peeped over the
rocks Taba caught me by the sleeve and pointed
towards a tower-like mass, with precipitous walls on
every side, some 400 yards lower. There was my
ram again, standing motionless on the very top of
it ! I soon recognised his massive, well-shaped horns.
Again our only chance was to wait, and we presently
saw him make up his mind, and turning away from us
disappear over the rocks. Making sure he could not
see us from his hiding-place, wherever it might be, we
again rushed downhill, and safely reached the buttress.
But here a delicate job awaited me, for in all proba-
bility the sheep had lain down under some protruding
ledge on the further side of the rocks, and I should
have to find him, and probably get within close
quarters before discovering him. Leaving Taba at
the foot of the cliff, I scrambled up the wall, rifle in
hand and on the alert. It was rather a perilous
ascent, and had it not been for some natural steps
here and there where I could get my foothold, I
could never have reached the top. Moreover, the
wind kept blowing round at this place, and might
start the animal any moment. I slowly advanced
breathless, from corner to corner, till suddenly, forty
yards below me, I caught sight of first a pair of
horns, and then of the whole of the animal's body.

AN EXCITING CHASE 271

In my excitement I took a quick, standing shot at
him, and fired again as he rushed down the rocks.
In a second Taba was by my side, and as we both
watched the beast running away at full speed we
clearly saw that he was wounded. He went on, how-
ever, till he reached some steep crags on the opposite
side of the valley, where he finally lay clown. Taba
said he had located him ; so, calling up the ponies, we
made off in his direction in order to approach him
again from above.

But the difficulty now was to recognise the rocks
from another side, for numerous rows of similar crags
ran down parallel from the top ridge. Dismounting,
we made our way through the broken ground, peeping
over the rocks, till suddenly we heard the rattling of
stones and caught sight of him as he dashed down
the slope. Bang went my rifle again, with the result
of breaking a leg ; but this only gave him greater
impetus, and following him down we got to the bottom
of the valley in less time than it takes to describe it.
I now thought that we had lost him, and was giving
vent to my despair, when Taba calmly pointed the
beast out to me standing on a ledge half-way up the
hill. He seemed unable to move ; I could distinctly
see the blood flowing from the wound, and thought
I might go on and finish him off, but Taba's plan was

272 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

different. He ordered the second Kalmuk to circum-
vent the crags, and cut off his retreat from the upper
rocks. This manoeuvre having been accomplished,
he beckoned me to proceed towards the animal, which
still stood motionless on the same spot. We soon
found, however, that he could move, for before we
could approach him he turned round and rushed away.
Running as fast as our legs could carry us, we again
reached the top just as the animal had been turned
back by the mounted Kalmuk, and as the ram passed
within fifty yards of me at full gallop, I rolled him
over with a bullet in his neck. Thus ended this
memorable chase. I found that his horns measured
well — 51 inches in length, 19J inches girth, $3 inches
spread. I was also struck by the fact that my four
shots had told — two of them in the stomach, one in
the thigh, and the last one in the neck. Meat not
being wanted in camp, we left the carcase to the
foxes and vultures, and only took his head, which
we brought back to camp at 6 p.m. Littledale had
come back empty-handed.

Next morning, at 9 a.m., we shifted camp eastwards
and pitched our tents at noon at an altitude of 7,800
feet, after a short fifteen versts* march.

August 4th was an uninteresting day for me,
although I went out in eager expectation of finding

THE TARKHATY RIVER 275

the big ram I had wounded. Though I came across
several herds, we were doomed to be discovered
every time we attempted to approach them, and on
reaching a high ridge where we expected to find
Ibex, we came across several rams amongst the most
broken ground I had as yet seen ; the heat of the
day had probably caused them to intrude upon the
Ibex. None of them I thought were worth shooting.
In order to get a full command of the surrounding
country, Taba and I made the ascent of the highest
peak in the district, and discovered about a mile
below us, lying on a grassy cul-de-sac, six very fine
old rams, perhaps the finest I had seen. They were
lying close to each other, all resting their heads on
the ground, probably tired of the weight nature had
imposed upon them to carry. We waited till 5 p.m..
hoping that they might get up and feed towards us,
but seeing that they had no intention of doing so,
we started back for camp, leaving the herd un-
disturbed, and hoping to find them again another
day. As for my wounded one, there were no signs
of him. It was pitch dark before we got to the tents.
Littledale was back with two good heads.

Next day we shifted camp down the Tarkhaty
River, passing our friend Abduldho's Kirghiz encamp-
ment, but omitting to call upon him for fear of

276 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

wasting time. We marched up a small tributary of
the aforenamed river, and about 2 p.m. pitched our
camp. We now had in prospect for the following
day both the same ground which I had visited on
the previous day, as well as a new range of hills
running northwards of us on the other side of the
Tarkhaty Valley. These were supposed to be
haunted by Ibex; Taba intimated that no sheep
ever frequented them. It began raining in the
afternoon, and so continued the whole of the follow-
ing day. Consequently we resorted to fishing, but
Grayling rose listlessly in the Tarkhaty River, and
we caught but few fish. Towards evening the
weather cleared up, and it froze hard during the
night. That day I visited several of the Kirghiz
yourts, and found them by far cleaner than those I
had come across in the Kalmuk country. Large
herds of horses and cattle (some thousands together)
were grazing round the encampment, which showed
how much richer the Kirghiz are than the wretched
Kalmuks.

On the following morning I started, at 4 a.m.,
towards the hills on the left side of the small stream
on which we were encamped, and presently reached
a high tableland, from which I could plainly dis-
tinguish the Kosh-Agatch Plain in the distance.

WADING THE TARKHATY RIVER 277

That day I came across large herds of ewes, but
found no shootable rams. We went on a long- way,
Taba and I, reaching the scene of our first adventure
with Ovis amnion. The Happy Valley was now in
sight, the Bain - Tchagan and Tchagan - Burgaza
rivers, as well as the low pass over which we
crossed into Mongolia. I felt sorry to think that
we were so soon to quit these happy hunting-grounds
and return to civilisation ; but our time was up, and
the approaching autumn was announced by the cold
wind that swept across the high Mongolian Altai.
We were being turned out by a late season. I re-
turned to camp late in the evening in pensive mood,
without having fired off my rifle. Littledale had
come back with the meat of a young ram, reporting
that he had seen several Ibex (female and young).
but had failed to discover the fine herd I had seen
two days previously.

Next day, on coming out of my tent, I found it to
be a beautiful bright sunny morning, and decided with
Taba to cross the Tarkhaty River and investigate the
lofty spurs, which the hunter said were inhabited
solely by Ibex. Littledale went back in search of
the large rams. We waded across the river at 5 a.m..
and gave the ponies a severe trial, as we ascended an
exceedingly steep slope for a couple of hours. On

278 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

our way two female Ibex watched us for some time,
and then disappeared in the rocks. The ground we
now sighted was apparently devoid of grass ; sharp-
edged, volcanic-like peaks, intercepted by stony
corries, and joined together by rocky ridges, gave
the country an aspect of solitude and desolation ; it
seemed as if an earthquake had turned everything
upside down. Sundry plateaux here and there en-
abled us to continue our course, and as we reached
a high saddle which commanded a view over a wide
stony nullah, I spied a dozen female Ibex lying on
the opposite slopes about a mile off. Leaving the
ponies, we ascended a steep slope over rolling-
boulders and shingle, and in about an hour reached
another and higher plateau, at an altitude of 1 1,000
feet, in order to inspect an adjacent corrie, where
Taba assured me he had always seen Ibex and,
strange to say, sometimes Maral stags. This time,
however, we found nothing there, though we care-
fully spied every nook and corner of the rocks. The
horses had been led round over easier ground, and
we mounted again to cross a large tableland and
explore the nullahs beyond. Large patches of snow
lay everywhere ; our ponies were obliged to cross
them, sinking now and again up to their bellies.
Just as we reached the ech^e another herd of about

A HERD OF IBEX 279

forty female Ibex came in sight. They were making
their way slowly up from their feeding ground below,
and were evidently heading for the neighbourhood of
the snow patches. We were now within 400 yards
of them, on horseback, and stopped in order to let
them pass. Strange as it may seem, they did not
discover us, and walked slowly away. At that
moment I suddenly saw a fine old buck, then
another, and a third, following the last of the herd.
I now made desperate signs to Taba to dismount,
and get the horses out of sight as quietly as he
could, which he successfully accomplished without
being noticed by the beasts. Crawling up to a
small hollow, we waited, motionless. The Ibex were
quietly making for the rocks, and we watched them
for a long time till they had passed out of sight.
With Wild Sheep we should never have been able
to get off so easily. Three of the old bucks had
particularly attracted my attention, and I was very
anxious to secure one which seemed to me larger
than the others ; the tip of one of his horns was
broken off, but the other looked a very good one.
As they disappeared round a corner, I followed them
as quickly as my legs could carry me, and could now
just see the tips of their horns moving amongst the
steep crags. They were evidently about to lie down ;

28o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

so, leaving Taba, I crawled on over the rolling stones.
The wind was blowing steadily downhill, so I was
obliged to circumvent them from below, and crept for
about half an hour down the bed of a small stream
till I reached the bottom of the ravine. They were
now out of sight, and huge rocky boulders, one on
the top of another, stood like a broken wall in front
of me. Amongst these I now began crawling up,
and presently found that two or three young bucks
were lying amongst them within 200 yards of me
facing towards me, but I could see no sign of the
larger ones. There was no possibility of an advance
without being discovered, so I waited fairly an hour
in a most uncomfortable position till I saw them lazily
start slumbering. I had to seize the opportunity, and
crawled on for over half an hour, hiding now and
again behind the highest boulders, till, finally, I
reached a corner which afforded me better shelter.
On looking back a last time I saw that they had
not been disturbed, and now appeared some 300
yards above me against the sky-line the tips of
longer horns, towards which I made my way with
the utmost caution. The wind was still blowing
steadily in my face, and though now and then I
was still in sight of the two young bucks, I managed
somehow to get within 200 yards of the old ones.

A GOOD HEAD 281

I took over an hour to advance 100 yards, but could
not venture to go further ; so I steadied my rifle
against a bit of rock, and waited till one of them
gave me a chance by getting up. I could only see
four or five horns against the sky, like the branches
of a tree, and naturally could not distinguish which
of them belonged to the larger Ibex. Presently,
however, one of them stood up broadside-on, and
I immediately recognised the one with the tip of his
horn broken off. As he did so, I drew my bead on
him and fired almost perpendicularly twice. I saw
him stumble, and had just time to give him another
shot which rolled him over. The others instantly
disappeared. On getting up to him I found he had
a good head, the unbroken horn measuring over 40
inches in length and 10^ inches girth. Taba, who
had been waiting some hundreds of yards off, soon
came up, and helped to cut the animal's head oft.
He was delighted at my success, and gave me further
samples of his broken English, although this time
not in his usual vocabulary, which had been hitherto
applied to failures. As it was getting late in the day,
we decided to return to camp, and the road being a
difficult one, it took us a long time to get out of the
crags, and as long again to find the horses. At
6 p.m. we crossed the Tarkhaty River, and reached

282 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the tents a little later. Littledale had brought in two
more trophies of sheep, neither of them measuring
over fifty inches. Next day we bade farewell to the
Tarkhaty country, and decided to make a long march
and pitch our tents on the banks of the Tchagan-
Bursfaza River.

KI.II'RN lO lCHACAN-Bl/RGAZA.

CHAPTER VIII.

Pack -ponies gone astray; replaced by Camels from the Kirghis —
Again in the Happy Valley — More Stalking — Letters at Last
Weather breaks up — Kosh-Agatch Plain — Antelope — Our Bag —
Start for Bashkaous Valley — Shooting Wild Fowl on the Kosh-
Agatch Steppe — My Wife kills a Wild Swan with the Rifle — In the
Altai Woodlands — Pine, Larch, and Birch — After Maral and Roe-
deer — Grayling Fishing in the Bashkaous River — The Zaissan's
Home — Kara Kodjur Stream — Unsuccessful Approaches — Wild
Scenery— Sorry-Kol Lake — Tracks of Maral and Moose— Littledale
Shoots a good Roe-buck — Our Camp at Vulientash— Absence of
Deer — September 6th — General Retreat to Ongoudai — Meeting with
Major Wissmann — Homeward Bound.

Late in the morning of August 9th we struck camp.
The cause of delay was that eight of our pack-ponies
had somehow gone astray, and with this bad news
our demitcha met us as we stepped out of our tents.
His report implied that they might have been stolen
during the night by the Kirghiz, who, he said, were
addicted to such proceedings. Our opinion, however,
was that the Kalmuks themselves had concealed
them with the view of making us pay for them. The
demitcha, though an energetic man in every way,
who kept his followers in thorough good order, had
2S3

284 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

shown signs of craftiness, and we were therefore on
the look out for some trickery. We let him know
that we could in no way answer for their negligence,

and that the entire responsibility before the Zaissan

lay with him. Four camels were brought in from
the Kirghiz encampment to replace the lost ponies,
and at 10 a.m. we were on the move. The demitcha
had despatched two of his men in search of the
ponies, with strict orders to " find them," and natur-
ally the Kalmuks soon reappeared with them.

THE HAPPY VALLEY

>85

Having passed the ground we knew so well, we pitched
our tents in the afternoon at our first camping place,
and forthwith sent Joseph to Kosh-Agatch with half
a dozen ponies laden with our numerous trophies.
The evenino- was clear and bright, and on the follow-

OUR CAMI

ing morning I was off to inspect the Happy Valley
again, whilst Littledale followed the nullah south-
wards. Alas ! I found the place entirely deserted,
and though I followed the stream to the very head of
the nullah, I saw but three fair rams during the whole
day, though there were numbers of ewes on the
slopes on both sides. These stood crowning the

286 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

heights, staring at us, and came down to i(-cd as soon
as we had passed. I returned to camp at 6 p.m.
thoroughly disappointed, and Littledale had met with
no better success.

Next day he went to the Happy Valley, whilst 1
stopped in bed tired and disheartened. Though it
blew a gale, he returned in the afternoon with a fine
massive head, saying he had come across a small herd
of old rams, out of which he had succeeded in secur-
ing one. In the evening a Kalmuk came in with
letters and papers from Ongoudai, the first we had
as yet received, and we spent three or four hours
devouring the " latest " news, of which the most
important was an account of the Queen's Jubilee
procession, which had taken place two months
previously !

The following day, August 12th, was to be my last
after kotchkor. The weather was evidently breaking
up lor the autumn, and a bitterly cold wind blew
incessantly. Littledale went to the Happy Valley
with my wife, whilst I went up the Tchagan-Burgaza
together with Taba. We had hardly advanced an
hour from camp, when we came across a herd of ten
rams feeding in a small lateral ravine. Some of them
carried good heads, and the wind being favourable,
we attempted to stalk them. As they fed slowly over

A PACK CAMEL 287

a boulder, we started in their direction, following the
bed of the stream, and carefully avoiding discovery
by a lot of ewes at the entrance of the gully. As
we descended out of sight, the rams were feeding
about 300 yards ahead of us, and so I approached a

I'AKA WITH A PACK CAMKI..

small ridge from which I hoped to get my shot, but
on peeping over with the utmost caution in the direc-
tion they had taken, I found that they had gone. As
I continued to advance carefully, I heard, to my
dismay, a rattling of stones to my right. Naturally
I thought they had scented us, and as I continued

288 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

carelessly on, suddenly to my left a fine ram jumped
up within fifteen yards, and immediately after the
whole herd were rushing downhill. I had to take a
standing shot at the running animals, which all got
away uninjured. Apparently the noise of rolling
stones I had heard had been caused by some other
Sheep that had seen us. We went on, Taba and
I, up the valley and over the saddle, reaching a stony
plateau, out of which rose a steep mountain covered
with reddish soil and shingle. Here we found the
rams again, and made a long dcHour of about three
hours to get to leeward of them, but when we again
saw them, after a desperate scramble, they were lying
at the very top of the hill in an unstalkable position.
It was now getting late, and we had to return to
camp on foot, having lost our ponies. My wife had
succeeded in approaching within 200 yards of a herd
of about thirty rams, out of which she had wounded
one, which, however, was not secured.

On August 13th the temperature had gone down
so fast that we decided to lift camp down the Tchagan-
Burgaza River, and in the afternoon pitched tents on
the Kosh-Agatch Plain, with the intention of de-
voting the following day to the pursuit of Antelope.
Heavy leaden clouds were rolling in the sky, and in
a regular hurricane we left the higher ground and

HUNTING ANTELOPES 289

bade farewell to the Wild Sheep country ; and I must
own that it was a relief to find oneself once more on
the lower steppe.

Next day the weather was again fine and ex-
cessively warm. Littledale and I went to different
sides of the river after Antelope. Not far from camp
I found a herd of about a hundred with some good
bucks amongst them, but as there was no means of
approaching them on the flat plain I suggested that
they should be driven towards us by my second
Kalmuk, who was instructed to make as wide a
detour as he could before showing himself. He had
not gone far before the whole herd suddenly got up,
and, strange to say, darted at headlong" speed towards
the place where I was lying. I took a running shot
as they passed within a hundred yards of me, and
dropped one of them, which I found to be an old
buck. Taba, who was an old hand at this game, said
the best way to secure one was to gallop straight
towards them, in which case, instead of running away,
they rush in confusion at right angles to the hunter's
direction, and then begins an extraordinary chase, the
Antelopes making an outward circle, whilst the ponies
gallop parallel to them in an inner one. As soon as
they are near enough, the hunter drops off his saddle
and shoots. In this manner we galloped towards

29o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

them as fast as our ponies could carry us, and I
succeeded in securing a couple after half an hour's
breathless ride. It was a curious sight to see these
small animals tearing along the plain, while the faster
they went the nearer we were able to approach them.
Littledale brought in two others, which made a fair
bag for the day.

On August 15th, at noon, we were at Kosh-Agatch.
Here we were met by our friend the Zaissan, who
greeted our return with signs of joy. We proceeded
to take photographs of our bag, which consisted of
the heads of thirty-two Wild Sheep, two Ibex, and five
Antelope. We found a new Russian Customs official,
who was most civil to us, and greatly assisted us in
the preparations for our next journey to the Maral
country. The whole of the following day was de-
voted to packing our trophies, which were carefully
wrapped up in felt, leaving the smaller heads, which
were not worth taking, and sending off the larger
ones straight to Ongoudai. Daniel was instructed
to accompany them to their destination. WTe found
twelve ponies not too many for the purpose, and saw
them start well loaded the following morning. We
spent the afternoon in settling accounts with the
Zaissan for the ponies and men, and decided as soon
as possible to go after Maral. According to the

DUCK SHOOTING

'■93

Zaissan, there were two passes into the Bashkaous
Valley, and he strongly recommended the Koukouriou
Pass, to which, in our ignorance of the country, we
agreed. The other way, he said, was much longer,
and the path more difficult for the ponies. In the

■ACKlNi; HORN:-

afternoon of the 1 7th August we had finished our
preparations, and went out Duck shooting on one of
the numerous lakes of the Kosh-Agatch steppe. I
still hoped to get the rare Duck I had been asked to
look for by Mr. Alpheraki, but though we shot
several, they were all of common species. Littledale

294 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

wounded a Wild Swan. After dinner the Russian
official paid us a visit, and having learnt from him
that the species of Duck I wanted was not uncommon
in the country, I left with him my coloured plate of
the bird, together with three or four skinning knives,
and in return got his solemn promise that, within
three months, I should receive a skin of the Duck in
question at St. Petersburg. Two years have since
elapsed, and the Duck has not yet been heard of!

Next morning we said good-bye to Kosh-Agatch,
and, crossing the Tchouia River, which we now found
fordable, followed it down along the Ongoudai path.
We pitched camp, after a twenty-five versts' march,
at the first station, called Kouekhatonar, where a small
log hut was built for the few travellers or tradesmen
who happened to pass that way. Before we left the
Kosh-Agatch Plain my wife was afforded another
chance of showing her skill with Littledale's Mann-
licher at a Wild Swan which was swimming on a lake
a hundred yards off. The bird dropped its neck into
the water stone dead, and I forthwith stripped and
started to bring it back, though the lake was very
cold. Happily it was shallow, and I waded through
knee-deep in the mud. We only remained that night
at Kouekhatonar, and were off next morning at 9 a.m.,
branching away from the Tchouia Valley northwards

A LONG AND WEARY MARCH

'95

up a steep lateral valley. Snow had fallen heavily
during the night, and the ponies found it slippery
work to get on. The aspect of the country had
entirely changed. Numerous trees on either side
denoted that we were now entering the wooded

)KNS START FOR ONGOUDAI.

country ; pine, larch, and birch were the most
frequent. About eleven o'clock we reached a pass
some 8,000 feet high ; on either side were rows of
rocky ledges, probably inhabited only by Ibex. The
descent from the pass was a long and weary one, and
as our horses were tired after their long march, we
decided, at 1 p.m., to camp on the banks of a small

296 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

mountain torrent, which our Kalmuks called
Karasou. Our tents were accordingly pitched on
the timber-line, and next morning- we started, Little-
dale and I, at about 4 a.m., with the intention of
surveying the neighbourhood. My companion
crossed the stream and took the country on the
right, whilst I, accompanied by Taba, ascended a
steep slope rising almost perpendicularly from our
camp. We naturally had to leave the horses very
soon, and to continue till we reached the higher
plateaux. On our way a couple of female Ibex came
in sight, and we passed them unnoticed. The country
above was broken and desolate. Very little game
seemed to inhabit it, and all we saw that day was
a couple of young Ducks feeding on a patch of grass
in a large corrie below us. The wind was bitterly
cold, and I was half frozen when I decided to return
to camp. As we descended the precipitous grassy
banks at full speed, my foot slipped, and, turning
at the ankle, the result was a bad sprain. Luckily
we were within a few hundred yards of camp, and
though I suffered agony, I was able to get back to my
tent, where I lay in bed for the next few days. Little-
dale came in at six, bringing the head of an Ibex he
had shot, with horns measuring thirty-four inches.
He had been on very difficult ground, and had not

DENSE FOREST 297

come across any desirable trophy. He had met with
a Roe-deer in the woods, but had missed him.

The next day snow lay thick around the camp.
I naturally remained in bed with my sprained foot,
and Littledale thought it hardly worth while going
out, the weather being most unfavourable, with
occasional cold autumn showers.

On August 22nd Littledale went out early, the
weather having somewhat improved. In the evening
he gave us an account of what he had done, and
though he had come across a herd of thirteen Ibex,
with a fine old buck amongst them, he had been un-
able to approach them, owing to the shiftiness of the
wind. The higher ground he found was very similar
to that of Cashmere ; the scenery quite lovely in the
region he had explored, and the locality well suited to
Ibex, though the inaccessibility of the crags had often
prevented him from examining carefully every ravine.

Next day, my foot being slightly better, we decided
to start down to the Bashkaous River. Camp was
struck at 10 a.m., and we descended the valley for
about three hours. We were now in the midst of
dense forests ; the path was at times so narrow that
we had to grope our way through the woods. At
1 p.m. we came to the junction of the Karasou and
Bashkaous rivers, and found the latter to be a wide,

298 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

clear stream flowing through dense tracts of timber.
The higher hills had now vanished, giving place to
low, cedar-covered boulders. We took a last glimpse
at the snow peaks in the distance behind us as we
entered the heart of the woodlands. That day we
came across several fresh tracks of Maral stags. We
proceeded down the main valley for another couple of
hours, and halted at 3 p.m. on the banks of the river,
some five miles lower down. Here we pitched camp
on a nice green lawn. Some of the packs had not
yet come in, and we were beginning to wonder what
had happened to them, when one of the Kalmuks
brought us the news that Joseph had fallen off his
pony and broken his arm. The doctor presently
turned up with the invalid, and told us that the arm
was broken above the wrist. The fall had been
occasioned by an unexpected jerk of his treacherous
pony. We were very sorry for poor Abbas, and
decided to send him straight back to Ongoudai, in
company with the doctor, as soon as he should be
able to ride. In the afternoon we caught a few Gray-
ling, and turned in early in order to start on the
following morning after Maral. At 4 a.m. we were
both, Littledale and myself, scouring the woods in
search of Roe-deer or Stags. I noticed a great
many tracks of the former, but saw nothing the whole

INVITATION FROM THE ZAISSAN 299

day. Littledale had spied a fine Stag about half a
mile above him, but had failed to approach him,
owing- to the carelessness of his shikari, who, on
arriving near the spot where they had noticed the
animal lying, went on without precaution, and startled
the beast, which they heard get up with a crash in the
dense underwood close by. The weather was now
fine and warm, but it almost froze at sunset. Our
friend the Zaissan, who was accompanying us, now
strongly induced us to visit his home on the Oulagan
River, a small tributary of the Bashkaous, promising
us plenty of Maral in the neighbourhood. We were
naturally delighted to accept his invitation, and made
a long march next day clown the main river (about
thirty versts). We fished on the way, my wife and I,
in some of the deeper pools we came across, and
caught several Grayling, averaging a pound each, but
on the whole our fishing in the Bashkaous was not
very successful, though we came across many likely
pools. The hills had now practically disappeared,
and the woods grew thinner ; large tracts of low
pasture ground stretched before us, and Kalmuk
settlements were more numerous. Now and again
we saw some smoky Kalmuk yourts, with two or
three haystacks in the vicinity (for the hay had just
been gathered), as well as many horse and goat skins

3oo AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

hanging on long poles as a pagan sacrifice to their
gods. The weather was now warmer than ever, as
if we had shifted from winter to summer quarters.
The next day we pitched camp at the place where the
Oulagan River falls into the Bashkaous, another
twenty miles lower down. Here the valley, which
had grown narrow and gorge-like in some places,
became wider again. The country had entirely lost
its savage aspect, and the scenery, were it not for the
cedar woods, bore a most commonplace character.
In the evening we tried for Roe-deer, but in vain; in
fact we could hardly realise the Zaissan's statement
that we should find Stags in the neighbourhood.

Next day, however, we went up the Oulagan Valley
and reached the Zaissan's house, which, in comparison
to what we had seen before, was quite a comfortable
lodging. His wife and children flocked around us,
and an exchange of presents took place. I presented
our powerful ally with the big revolver that had been
stolen from me by the two runaway Kalmuks, and
which the Zaissan had managed somehow to retrieve ;
I presume after a severe swishing of the culprits. On
my eager inquiry about the number and whereabouts
of Maral in the vicinity, I was staggered by the
Zaissan's answer that there were seventeen. He had
been talking the whole time of Maral in an en-

PROMISE OF GOOD SPORT 301

closure. Having accepted a Bear skin which the
Zaissan had kindly offered me, with his good wishes,
we bade him farewell on the following day, and
hurried back down the Oulagan in search of wilder
country. Our days being now numbered, we were
disappointed at having lost our time up the Oulagan
River, though a visit to the Zaissan was the least we
could do, if only to thank him for the civility he had
continually shown us. Orders had been given by
him to our former demitcha (Jacob) to meet us on
our way, as we passed his yourt, and after a fifteen-
mile march, as we were pitching our camp at the
junction of the Kara Kodjur stream with the Bash-
kaous, we were met by this old acquaintance of ours,
who was now in his own country, and seemed full of
pluck, and quite another man in comparison with
what we had seen of him in Mongolia. He gave us
a brilliant description of the country at the head of
the Kara Kodjur River, and told us that it abounded
not only in Maral and Roe (in Kalmuk the former is
known as Sougoun, the latter as Ic/ik), but also in
Moose, which he called Boulan. This made us most
eager to continue our journey towards this Eldorado,
though from experience we felt rather mistrustful of
Kalmuk statements. Jacob had provided us with a
couple of native hunters, whom we met on the follow-

302 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

ing day on our way up stream. One of these seemed
a sharp fellow, and gave us some hope of success, for
he inquired whether we could shoot, and said we were
sure to have to put our rifles to the test.

On August 29th we pitched camp some twenty
miles up the Kara Kodjur River, and found that the
scenery had grown decidedly wilder. Having been
told that the woods round camp swarmed with Roe-
deer, we went out, both of us, in the afternoon with
our new men in search of game, but returned in the
evening without having seen a single beast.

Next morning, at 9 a.m., we were again on the
move, following the banks of the stream. It was a
long march, though the Kalmuks had said we were
close to its sources. On reaching the top of a low
pass, at about 2 p.m., we came upon a beautiful
prospect. About half a mile ahead of us lay a large
lake known as the Sarry-Kol Lake. The hills all
round were covered with dense forests of pine, cedar,
and especially larch on every side. Large glades of
low, thick bushes of a reddish hue lay here and there
in their midst, reminding one greatly, were it not for
the trees, of the Scottish Highlands. In the distance-
rose a higher range of mountains, half-powdered with
fresh snow, in an immense semicircle. The whole
picture decidedly bore a touch of loneliness and wild

LAKE SARRY-KOL 303

desolation. In places the broad stretches of timber
had been destroyed by wood fires, and the grand
branchless stems rose hi<>h over the boulders, causing
them to resemble the backs of gigantic Porcupines.
After a long search for a suitable place, we pitched

OUR CAMP ON THE BANKS OF LAKE SAKRY-KOI

camp close to the banks of the lake. The weather
was dull and cold, and towards evening it began to
drizzle. We were in great hope of finding Stags,
and though the rutting season had not yet begun, it
was not improbable that we might find some feedino-
in the open at early dawn. I made out the altitude
of our camp to be about 6,000 feet. It rained almost

3o4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

all night, and as we started, Littledale and I, at 5 a.m.
next morning, an icy cold wind chilled us to the bone.
The hills were white with snow, almost down to our
tents, and I certainly should have remained in bed if
it had not been for the repeated assurances of our
hunters that we should get some sport. We followed
for some time the northern bank of the lake, and
leaving our horses in charge of a Kalmuk, ascended
a long, slanting slope, out of which rose here and
there half-burnt poles of trees. The ground was
white with snow, giving the country before us a
fantastic appearance. As we toiled through the low-
bushes, we were soon thoroughly drenched up to our
knees. On reaching a bit of open country, my new
hunter and Taba both caught sight of a Roe-buck
about half a mile ahead of us. I found it impossible
to make him out, and confidently followed Taba in
the approach we now attempted. As we reached a
higher boulder greater precaution seemed to be
necessary, and we crawled up to the top of it, but on
peeping over found that the animal had disappeared.
Taba attributed this to the shiftiness of the wind.
On reaching the spot where the Roe had been seen,
we found its fresh tracks on the snow, a fact which
resolved my doubts on the subject, and so we pro-
ceeded. We wandered through the woods in this

NEW MODE OF HUNTING

;°5

way for a long time, peeping cautiously into likely
glades between the trunks of tall larches, but without
success. We came across a few tracks of Maral
stags, but that was all. The wind was bitterly cold,
and as I was by this time thoroughly drenched, I

SIBERIAN ROE-BUCK.
(Capreotus />ygargus.)

decided to return to camp, which we reached soon
after midday. On the whole I found this new mode
of hunting most difficult and aggravating, and with
but slight chance in favour of the hunter. Little-
dale, who had gone westward, returned late in the
day, and reported that he had only come across three

306 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

Roe-deer docs, and although he had scoured large
tracts of timber, had met with very few signs of
Stags.

Next day, September ist, we exchanged ground,
starting" at daybreak. It was a frosty morning, and
a thick mist covered the whole country, clearing up
towards 6 a.m. As we advanced through the bushes,
nothing came in sight for a couple of hours, during
which time we had journeyed five or six miles from
the lake. As I sat down to spy a broad, open corrie,
my glass revealed four animals feeding slowly in the
distance. On more careful examination I found them
to be two Maral hinds with their fawns. I had taken
Jacob with me that clay ; the fellow was very anxious
that I should shoot at least a hind. I naturally
restrained his impetuosity, and as we were discussing
the matter, my other hunter suddenly pointed out
amongst the trees some 200 yards ahead of us a
Roe-deer with two kids quietly feeding. As soon as
the animal moved, I saw it was a doe. But this was
not to be our last disappointment that day. As we
made our way through the high bushes, which at this
place came almost up to our necks, a buck and a doe
suddenly sprang out and disappeared in a second,
without giving me the slio-htest chance of a shot, and
only just affording me the glimpse of a pair of fine

VALLEY OF THE KATOUN RIVER 307

horns. A little further on Jacob pointed out to me
the tracks of a Moose (Boulan), and there, sure
enough, on the mud, were the well-known footprints !
On our way back two more Roe-deer sprang out of
the brushwood a few yards in front of us, but with
the same result as before, and at noon I was back in
camp thoroughly disheartened. Littledale had not
yet returned, but had sent in the. head of a fair buck,
and at 3 p.m. he came in saying that he had seen
another fine buck, but had failed to get near him.
Rain now came on, but as it cleared up towards
evening, we decided to have another try on the
following day before striking camp. Unfortunately,
however, it poured continuously the whole of next
day, and we were obliged to keep to our tents and dig
entrenchments round them in order to carry off the
water, and keep the insides dry.

On the morning of September 3rd we struck camp,
at 9 a.m., in a north-westerly direction, and again
pitched tents at 1 p.m., after a fifteen-mile march, on
the banks of a small stream at a place known to the
natives as Yulientash. We had crossed a low divide
separating two watersheds, and now found ourselves
again in the valley of the Katoun River. The country
here was very similar to that we had just left, and our
hunters still promised us sport with Maral. The

308 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

ground, indeed, seemed suitable for them ; westwards
of us ran a range of snowclad hills, whilst on all
other sides the low, undulating country was covered
with fir woods and great stretches of reddish brush-
wood. Towards evening, clouds still hung on the
sides of the higher mountains, but the rain had
stopped. As it snowed the whole of the following
morning, it was not until after luncheon that we could
get out in search of game. On that day I saw
nothing but a Capercaillie. I found tracks of Deer,
however, and occasionally noticed signs of Maral
Stags on small trees, which were stripped of their
bark, but no fresh ones. Littledale had succeeded
in stalking a couple of Roe, and had shot the doe by
mistake, unable to make out the horns amidst the
thick branches. Another attempt next day proved
as unsuccessful as the previous ones. Taba had
suggested that we might find game in the direction
of the higher ground westwards, towards which we
now directed our course. Owing to Mrs. Littledale's
bad state of health, my companion remained to look
after her. As for me, I scrambled half-way up the
steep slopes of the western mountain range, where
the only living creatures I saw during the whole day
were a female Ibex with a kid. I returned to camp
at 2 p.m., thoroughly sick of this God-forsaken

MEET TWO EUROPEANS 309

country, and we unanimously decided in the evening
to make a general retreat to Ongoudai.

Next day a long march of about twenty miles over
broad stretches of moorland and a low pass brought
us to the banks of a small tributary of the Katoun
River, where we pitched camp at 3 p.m. The
weather was now evidently breaking up, and we were
all anxious to get back to civilisation. Consequently,
next day we made a very long march (about forty
versts) down a small stream, and reached the Sakljar
Pass, on the Ongoudai-Kosh-Agatch path, a little
after 2 p.m. As we descended the steep slope into
the Katoun Valley we met a caravan with two Euro-
peans, who were on their way to Kosh-Agatch. We
found them to be Germans — Major Wissmann and
Doctor Bomuller, with whom we exchanged a few
words. They were intending to cross the Mongolian
plateaux into the Zaissan's country, and then proceed,
via Tashkend, to Merv. We warned the well-known
African explorer of the difficulties he would have to
encounter, owing to the late season and roughness of
the autumn months on the high Altai, and wishing
him a good journey, parted with the first Europeans
we had come across for a long time. At 4 p.m. we
reached the ferry over the Katoun, which we crossed,
and camped on the steppe close to its banks.

Next day Ongoudai was reached in the afternoon,

3io

AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI

the last few miles being accomplished in iarantass,
which had been kindly placed at our disposal by our
friend the Zassedatel Meyer, who had himself gone
away on leave. Here we discovered that during our
entire journey we had miscalculated the days of the
week, and that Mrs. Littledale, who, as she supposed,
had been keeping Sundays most religiously, had by
mistake been observing Fridays instead ! We found
that our trophies had safely arrived, and had been
carted on to Barnaoul.

IKIMKWARD IIOUM).

The next day was entirely devoted to paying off
our men, and making preparations for the journey
back to Barnaoul. We bade farewell to Jacob the
demitcka, and on the ioth September finally left

Ongfoudai en route for Bisk.

HOMEWARD BOUND

3i3

On the 14th we were met at Barnaoul by General
Boldyreff and the Ispravnik, who greeted us warmly
and complimented us on our safe return from our long-
journey. We remained a couple of days as guests
of the Governor of the Altai, who helped us most
civilly in our preparations for the start, and after a

OUR SPECIAL LUGGAGE VAN FOR TROrHIES AND PACKAGES.

hearty good-bye, we reached the Ob River a day later.
Here fresh trouble awaited us with regard to the
registering- of our luggage. The horns alone weighed
over forty-six poods. After a long and weary dis-
cussion, we were supplied with a special luggage van,
and on the 16th September slowly steamed off to-
wards Europe.

APPENDIX

LIST OF PLANTS FROM THF ALTAI MOUNTAINS

Collected by Mr. and Mrs. St. George R. Littledale

Received January, 1 898

Anemone Pulsatilla, L.
Ranunculus aquaiilis, L. (2 forms).

,, Cymbalaria, Pursh.

, , plant aginifolius, M u rr.

,, long/mulls, C. A. Mey.
pulchellus, C A. Mey.

,, sulphureus, Soland.
Aconitum napellus, L.
,, Anthora, L.

Trollius asiaticus, L.
Papaver alpinum, L.
Corydalis striata, Steph.
Parrya exscapa, Ledeb.
Cardamine pralensis, L.
Draba glacialis, Adams.
,, incana, L.
„ /u'rta, L.
Chorispora sibirica, 1) C.
Smebncskia calycina, C. A. Mey.
Capsella Tliomsoni, Hook, f.
Hesperis ?
Viola altaica, Pall.

Clayton/a sibirica, L.
Dianthus supcrbus, L.

,, Seguieri, Yill.

Lychnis apclala, L.
Stellar ia gr amine a, L.
Cera stiu in lithospei -m ifoliu in ,

Fisch.
Cerastium trigynum, Yill.

sp.
Cherlcria sedoides, L.
Silene tenuis, \\'ilid.

,, repens, Patrin.
Bicbcrsttinia adora, Steph.
Geranium ulassovianum, Fisch.
O nolo ycb is sp.

Hedysarum polymorphum, Ledeb.
Astragalus alpinus, L.

sp.

sp.
Oxytropis, 2 sp.
Dryas ociopetala, L.
Spiraea hypericifolia, L.

3i4

APPENDIX

3i5

Potentilla anserina, L.

,, multifield, L.

., grandifolia, L.
Sibbaldia procumbens, L.
Saxifraga melaleuca, Fisch.

,, oppositifolia, L.

,, Hircn/us, L.

Parnassia palustris, L.
Sedum Rhodiola, D C.

„ (juadrifidinn, Pall.
Umbilicus spinosus, I ) C.

,, leucanthus, DC.
Epilobium latifolium, L.
Galium verum, L.
Leontopodium alpinum, Cass.
,, sibiricum, Cass.

Erigeron, alpinus, L.
yafi-/^' alpinus, L.
Saussurea pygmaea, Spreng.

,, alpiua, L.

Senecio flammeus, DC.

,, jt/. near 5". goringensis,

Hemsl.
Artemisia rupeslris, L.

glacialis, Willd.
Pyrethrum pulchellum, Ledeb.
Scorzonera radiata, Fisch.
Leoutodon autumnale, L.
Youngia pygmaea, Ledeb.

,, diver sifolium, Ledeb.
Statice spcciosa, L.
Primula nivalis, Pall.

,, farinosa, L.

Glaux maritima, L.
Androsace septentrionalis, L.
Rhododendron daouricum, L.
Campanula Steveni, M. B.
Pokmonium cxruleum, L.
Gentiana altaica, Pall.
,, barbata, Froel.
„ tenella, Fries.
„ prostrata, Hacnke.
,, Olivier/', Griseb.
Swertia perennis, L.
Myosotis sylvatica, Ehrh.
Eritrichium villosum, Bunge.
Castilleia pallida, Kunth.
Veronica spicata, L.
Pedicularis verticillaia, L.

„ comosa, L.

,, foliosa, L.

Marrubium eriostachyum, Benth.
Leonurus lanatus, Pers.
Dracocephalum pal malum, Steph.

,, grandiflorum, L.

Thymus Serpyllum, L.
i-W/.v Myrsinites, L.
„ Brayi, Ledeb.
Ephedra monostachya, L.
B lit urn virgatum, L.
Rumex Acelosa, L.
Polygonum alpinum, All.

,, viviparum, L.

,, Bistort a, L.

/«i Tigridia, Bunge.
Lloydia serotina, Salisb.

3*6

APPENDIX

Allium silnricum, L.

„ Semenovii, Regel.

,, tenuissimum, Ledeb.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri, Hoppe.
Carex rigida, Good.

,, stenophylla, Wahl.

,, melanantha, Turcz.

„ melanantha, C. A. Mey.
Deyeuxia, near D. lapponica.
Trisetum subspicatum, Beauv.
Triticum caninum, var. altaicum,
Griseb.

Hordenm violaceum, Boiss. and

Hohen.
Stipa orientalis, Trin.
Bromus inermis, Leyss.
Agropyrum cristatum, Bess.
Woodsia iloensis, R. Br.
Cy stopfer is fragilis, B er n h .
Equisetum arvense, var. alpinum.
Bryum, cf. B. caespitosum.
Mnium rostratui/i, Schwaeg.
Amblystegium Jluviatile, Schpr.
Hyp nu in uncinatum, Hedw.

INDEX

Abbas, Joseph, 2, 5, 33, 61, 62, 92,

100, 161, 162, 177, 180, 230, 253,

285 ; breaks his arm, 298.
Abduldho (a Khirghiz chief), 240,

275.
Adar kotchkor (kill sheep), 102.
Ak (white), 60.
Ak-sou (white water), 143.
Akmolinsk country, 24.
Alexander I. the Beloved, 28, 29.
Alpine flowers, 68.
Alpheraki (a Russian naturalist), 4,

83. 293.
Alps, 95.

Altai district, 25, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36,
49, 53, 54, 56, 78.

„ mountains, 1,2,14,45,54,215,
221, 309.

„ peaks, 47.

„ pine forests, 31.

„ scenery, 63.

,, sheep. See Ovis.
Altaiskoie, 48.
Altaisky Zassedatel, 58.
Amnion sheep. See Ovis.
Antelopes, 89, 150, 183, 193, 228

288, 289 ; sight a herd, 232 ;

our whole bag, 290.
A ni Hope gutturosa, 89, 150, 151,

183.
Arkhar (ewe), 60, 95, 161, 165, 108.
Ash trees, 200.

Asia, 6, 15, 16, 150, 227.

„ boundary of, 15.
Asiatic tribes, 211.
Aurochs, 14.

Baggage, 6.

Bain-Khairkhan Hills, 147, 153,

162, 180, 182, 189, 192.
Bain-Tchagan, the, 97, 100, 103.

107, 112, 139, 277.
Bain-Tchagan Valley, 118, 124.
Barnaoul, 20, 23, 25, 26, 31, 33, 34,
36, 47, 61, 241.
„ departure from, 35, 39,

3io,3i3-
„ Museum, 34.
„ welfare and education of
people of, 34.
Bashkaous River, 297, 299, 300.

Valley, 225, 293.
Bears, 13, 15, 301.
Belbess (don't know), 112, 1S5.
Beliou mountains, 182, 192.

., stream, 194.
Bia River, 33, 36, 45, 47.
Bielokourikha, 47.
Bielukha glaciers, 39, 43.

,, range, 68.
Birch trees, 25, 295.
Birds on the Volga, 9.
Bisk, 3^, 36, 39, 42, 45, 47, 56, 61, 310.
Black game, 1 5.
7

u8

INDEX

Boldyreff,( General, 25, 31- 5,241,313.

Madame, 33.
Boma (a dangerous path), 67, 78, 79.
Bomiiller, Doctor, 309.
Boro-Burgassy River, 142, 181, 182.

„ Valley, 169.

Boun, or Ibex, 82.
Brahminy Geese, 60, 108, 245.
Brown Bears, 13.
Bunge (a botanist), 34.

Camels, 27, 285.

Capercaillie, 14, 308.

Cap) a sibirica, 34, 82, 1 10, 1 18, 220,

221, 226, 232-5, 237-9, 250-3,

275-9, 290, 295-7, 308; sight a

herd, 1 1 8.
Cap) < coins pygargus, 13, 56, 221,

297, 298, 300-2, 304-8.
Caravan, our, 92.
Cariboo, 13.
Cashmere, 297.
Caucasus, 6, 91, 150.
Cedar woods, 32, 47, 48, 301, 302.
Central Russia, 41.
Chamois, 150, 152.
China, 92, 147, 203.

„ Emperor of, 179, 203, 240.
„ proposed route from, 26.
trade with, 54, 55.
Chinamen, 170, 171, 177, 213, 214,

216.
Chinese, 55, 56.

„ frontier, 99, 144.
„ territory, 124, 141, 142,
170, 203, 241.
Cold intense, 1 1 1, 122, 161.
Constantine, Father, 65.
Copper, 13.
Cranes, 60,
Cristo (Author's valet), 5, 92, 98,

139, 143, 161, 168, 204, 243.

Cumberland, Major, 1, 2, 87, 100,

140.
Czar of Russia, 240.

Dain-Kol district, 215, 220.

,, Lake, 214, 218.
Daniel, 173, 175, 176, 192-5, 198,

201, 290.

Deer parks in the Altai, 53.

DemidofT, Princess, 1, 3, 19, 20, 92,
107, 108, 132-4, 140, 142, 153,
161, 162, 168, 189, 190, 199, 208,
224, 253, 256, 258, 259, 266, 286,
288, 299.

Demitcha, 92, 94, 139, 162, 168, 201,

202, 210, 219, 225, 240, 242, 283,
284, 301, 310.

Djeran, 150.

Dogs, 53, 215.

Ducks, 60, 83, 89, 293, 294, 296.

„ round Kainsk, 24.
Dutchinas, or communes, 56, 5S.

Eagles, 108.

Eastern hospitality, 2,3-

„ Siberian galleys, 16.
Ekaterinburg, 23.
Ekaterinburg, S.S., 9.
Ekaterinburg Shooting Club, 14.
Elizabeth, Empress, 23-
Elk, 13, 15, 301, 307.
Ermak, the adventurer, 16.
Europe, 15, 16, 45, 88, 221.

„ boundary of, 15.

„ return to, 313.
European Russia, 34, 41.

Fir trees, 94.

Flowers, 32, 68, 140, 161, 213.

Gabriel, Mr. Littledale's servant, 6,
92, 139, 168, 204.

INDEX

3J9

Geese, 83, 89.

Gold near Taguil, 13, 16.

Granaries of Siberia and Russia,

24.
Grayling-, 182, 189, 208, 209, 222,

223, 276, 298, 299.
Grebes, Eared, 89.
Greek Church, 57.
Gultcha (wild ram), 60.

Happy Valley, 97, 98, 107, 112, 116,

121, 124, 132, 133, 140, 143, 144,
151 ; start for, 153, 164, 232, 253,
277, 285, 2S6.

Hares, 100, 193, 224, 245.

Horses, 86, 143-5.

Hot springs, 47.

Iaksht (good), 60.

Iaman (bad), 60.

Ian miiss (big horn), 60, 106.

Ibex, 34, 82, no; discover a herd,
118, 220, 221, 226, 232-4, 235,
237-9, 250-3, 275-9, 281 ; our
whole bag, 290, 291, 295-7, 308.

Imperial Geographical Society, 4.

Inia River, a small tributary of the
Katoun, 71.

lodro, 75.

Iok (no), 1 50.

Iron mountains, 13, 17.

Iron-ore at Taguil, 13.

Ispravnik (chief of the police), 26,
27, 29, 31, 32, 40, 48, 49, 56, 60,
66, 75, 85,91,313.

Ivan the Terrible, 16.

Jacob, the dcmitcha, 225, 301, 306,

Jakshi (well done), 106.
Joseph. See Abbas.
Juniper, 200.

Kaams, or Kalmuk priests, 76-8.

Kainsk, 23, 24.

Kalmuk country, 56, 65, 276.
„ matrons, 26.
,, peace offering, 71, 72, 300.
„ priest, 75-8, 82, 85, 86.
,, punishing one, 87.

Kalmuks, 5, 26, 32, 45, 53, 54, 56-62,
65, 66, 68, 75-8, 82, 85-7, 90-6,
98, 99, 102, 104, 106, 115, 124,
138-40, 143, 150, 151, 153, 161,
164, 168, 169, 172, 184, 185, 200,
202, 204, 205, 207, 209, 210, 212,
215, 217, 220, 225, 226, 229, 230,
233, 240-2, 250, 255, 258, 259, 263,
265, 272, 276, 283, 284, 286, 289,
296, 298-302, 304.

Kama, 10.

Kamlanie (a ceremony), 76.

Kara (black), 60.

Kara-Adyr River, 224. See Sum-
dairik.

Karaimaty River, 230.

Kara Kodjur, 301, 302.

Karaoul Suok, 162.

Kara-sou (black water), 143, 296-7.

Kasan, the great Tartar town, 9,
10.

Katoun Valley, 309.

„ River, 36, 45, 47, 66, 7 1 , 72,
307, 309 ; crossing the, 67.

Kha, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174, 179,
214, 216, 223.

Kiachta, 26.

Kirghiz, 26, 58, 60, 117, 124, 150,
185, 202, 203, 211, 212, 221, 222,
240-2, 276, 283, 284; encamp-
ment, 203, 218, 284.

Kitchinek kotchkor (young rams),
147.

Kobdo town, 26, 55, 174, 175, 181,
201.

320

INDKX

Kobdo lakes, 216, 218.
„ merchants, 172.
„ river, 142, 192, 199-201,
208, 210, 212, 215, 217,
218, 227, 238.
Valley, 184, 199, 225.
Komar Pass, 48.

Kosh-Agatch, 25, 26, 36, 58, 62,68,
71, 72, 82, 84, 88-90, 140, 161,
162, 177, 180, 201, 230, 231, 241,
242, 253, 285, 290, 291, 293, 294,
309.
Kosh-Agatch plain, 5, 150, 184, 276,
288, 294.
„ plateau, 81-3.

steppe, 293.
Koslot'f, Lieutenant, 218.
Kotchkor bar (there are Wild

Sheep), 87, 100, 112.
Kotchkor (wild ram). See Ovis.
Kouekhatonar, 82, 294.
Kouickhtonar, 82, 294.
Koukouriou Pass, 293.
Koumiss (fermented mare's milk),

60.
Kourgan, 23.
Kuldja Valley, 4.
Kurai hills, 68.
„ range, 81.
„ steppe, 81.
Kvas (a Russian beverage), 16.

Pake Valley, 250, 253, 268.

Parch, 47, 48, 94, 200, 2 1 3, 223, 295,

302, 3°5-
Pedebour (a botanist), 34.
Legend of the so-called " Father

Theodor," 28.
Lepet (Littlcdale's hunter) 133, 154,

.93-8.
Littledale, Air., 2, 5,6, 19, 32, 33, 45,

55,61,89,90,92,99,107,108,110, J

1 16-8, 122, 124, 1 31-3, 138-40,
142, 144, '5P I53> '54, 161, [62,
16S, 171, 173, 174, 178, 180, 183,
184, 189, 190, 192, 193, 199, 202,
204, 207-9, 224-6, 228-32, 238,
239, 243, 244, 246, 250, 251, 253,
256, 258, 259, 266, 267, 272, 275,
277, 282, 285, 286, 289, 290, 293,
294, 296-9, 304, 305, 307, 308 ;
record head, 260, 261.

Littledale, Mrs., 3, 5, 19, 20, 32, 33,
45, 61, 92, 107, 108, 140, 142, 153,
161, 162, 168, 171, 177, 178, 189,
190, 199, 209, 258, 259, 266, 308,
310.

Lob-Nor, 218.

Lomatchevsky, General, 25, 26, 30.

Lubimoff Company, 9.

Mannlicher, 224, 259, 294.
Maral deer, 34, 49, 5°, 53, 54,
116, 220, 221,242, 278,
298-301, 303, 305,
308.
„ country, 290.
,, horns found, 116, 244.
„ some seen, 1 10.
Maralnik (enclosure for Maral)

50.
Marmots, 45, 46, 100, 193, 202,

224.
Medicine made from horns, 55.
Melons, 24.
Merv, 309.
Meyer, Mr., 58, 62, 66, 77, 85,

310.
Mines at Taguil, 20.
Mining people's cruelty, 16.
Mohammedans, 58.
Mongolia, 2, 26, 78, 94, 100,
no, 115, 123, 131, 142, 151,
277.

290,
306,

49,

INDEX

32:

Mongolian Altai, 141, 148, 277.
„ frontier, 91, 107.

„ plateau, 5, 84, 139, 309.

,, thunderstorm, 259.

Mongols, 26, 56, 78, 124, 142, 214,

217, 219, 241.
Moose, 13, 15, 301, 307.
Moscow, 3, 5, 6, 29.
Mus citilus, 46.

Muss-Taou hills, 189, 200, 204,
211, 214-8, 220, 221, 228.

Nam Daba Pass, 230, 256, 263, 266.
Napoleon's invasion of Russia, 28.
Newsky, Dr., 4, 5, 92, 298.
Nicholas (our interpreter), 65, 91,

92, 139, 168, 173, 179, 202, 204,

211, 220-3.
Nicholas, Emperor, 29.
Nijni-Novgorod, 6, 10.
Nikolaevsky, 30.

Ob River, 20, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 36,

39,45,47, 313-
Olonur Valley, 230.
Omak, 23.
Ongoudai-Kosh-Agatch path, 294,

3°9-
Ongudai, 33-5, 45, 47, 55, 56, 58-61,
65, 66, 71,98, 162, 286,
290, 295, 298, 309, 310.
„ reach, 310.
„ start from, 295, 298, 309.
Oulagan River, 242, 299-301.

„ Valley, 300.
Ovis amnion, I.

„ country, 95, 221, 289.

„ first sighted, 95.

,, length of horns in

ewe, 95.
„ length of horns lying

on ground, 96.
Y

Ovis a

)imon, find heads on river-
bed, 100.
a herd of ewes and

young, 100.
rams located, 103.
rams stalked, 104.
two fine heads se-
cured, 105.
measurement of the

two heads, 105.
height at shoulder and

size, 106.
Littledale secures five

heads, 107.
found at altitude of

9,000 feet, 108.
a herd of ewes spied,

108, 112, 169.
a fine old ram sighted

and shot, 113, 114.
eighteen cross the

stream, 115.
measurements of fine

head, 115, 191.
find horns in bed of

stream, 1 16.
a large herd sighted,

118.
spy a ram, 251.
fifteen rams in the
river-bed, 125.
unsuccessful stalks,

129, 138, 148.
two fair heads, 131.
a small head, 130.
one found dead, 130.
Littledale gets a fair

head, 133.
herd of sixteen seen,

133-
ground strewed with

horns, 140, 228, 229,

244.

32:

INDEX

Ovis a,

n won, sheep horns on shores

of small lake, 144.
, seven young ramsand

ewes, 147.
, sight two rams, 148,

199, 254, 256.
, sightaherdofsix,i5o.

, sight a herd of rams,

151, 194.
, sight a herd of fifteen

rams, 155, 156.
, a ram killed, 160, 249.

, Littledale sights a

young ram and ewes,

161.
Littledale gets one

and wounds another,

162.
sight a herd, 164, 186,

192, 246.
wound and kill a ram,

166, 167.
find skulls on the

ground, 169.
find heads on ground,

184.
Littledale sights some

ewes, 189.
Littledale secures a

fine head, 191.
wound a sheep, 197.
pick up fine head, 226,

252.
Littledale gets a small

head and sights a

herd, 253.
spy two old rams, 2 54.
spy five rams, 257.
Littledale gets a fine

head, 259, 286.
Littlcdale's record

head, 260, 261.

Ovis ammon, spy three rams, 268.
„ six old rams, 275.

Littledale gets two
good heads, 275.
„ spy some ewes, 277.

„ spy ten rams, 286.

„ our bag, 290, 291.

Pamir steppes, 1 10
Parlovsky, General, 20.
Pekin, 174.
Perm, 10, 174.
Petnopavloosk, 23.
Pine forests, 31, 302.

„ trees, 48, 295.
Plants, 5.

Platinum, 13, 20; washings, 16,20.
Plovers, 185.
Ponies bought, 62.

„ prices of, 89.
Purdey rifle, 102, 104, 167.

Railways of Western Siberia, 20, 23.
Religion of the Kalmuks, 56.
Rhododendrons, 68.
Rock-cherries, 32.
Roe-deer, 13, 14, 56, 221, 297, 298,

300-2, 304-8.
Russia, 9, 19, 24, 28, 240.

„ Emperor of, 2>3i 240.
Russian colonists, descendants of,
4i.
„ convicts, 16, 30.

Customs, 23, 29, 85, 290.
., Empire, 4.

„ Geographical Society, 218.
„ Government, 27, 31, 33, 41,

54, 58, 78, 86.
„ merchants, 26, 45, 49, 62,

78, 84.
„ missionaries, 56.
,, steppes, 150.

INDEX

323

Russian Turkestan, 4, 150.

„ Tzar, Ivan the Terrible, 16.
Russian- Kalmuk dictionary, 65.
Russo-Chinese divide, 97, 230.
„ slopes, 1, 97.

Sable, 15, 45.
Saiga Antelope, 150, 151.
Saldjar Pass, 68, 69, 81, 309.
Salkhyn (wind), 60, 157.
Sardinian Wild Sheep, 95.
Sarry-Kol Lake, 302-4.

„ our camp on, 303.

Semenoff, Mr. P., 4.
Semiretchensk country, 24.
Shebalina, 49, 55.
Sheleznaia Goro (iron mountain),

'3, '7-
Siberia, 16, 24, 28, 221, 240.
Siberian Altai, 68.

„ Franzensbad, 47.

frontier, 3, 26, 45, 58, 65,
116, 153, 215, 222, 230,
23;.
,, Railway, 6, 20.
„ roe-deer, 13.
steppes, 23.
„ Taiga, 14.

villages, 23, 27.
Skinning heads, 6.
Slaviansky bazaar, 5.
Snow-bridge, 96, 97.
Snow-cock, 196.

Somoff, a rich merchant, 28, 29.
Sou (water), 60.
Squirrels (Siberian), 15.
Stores bought at Barnaoul, 61.
St. Petersburg, 3, 5, 29, 174, 294.

„ Museum, 4.

Suite (Antelope), 184.
Sumdairik River, 212, 222, 224.
Valley, 2 n, 222.

Suok River, 142, 143, 147, 169, 181,
182, 189, 199, 201 ; camp
on banks, 143.
„ steppe, 184, 192, 226.
„ Valley, 164, 182, 192, 213.
Swans, 83, 294.

Taba, the author's hunter, 87, 95
107, 109, 112, 113, 117, 121, 122
125, 129, 130, 133, 137, 138, 140.
144, 147-57, 159, l6°. '63-9:
183, 185-8. 190, 191, 193, 204
221, 226, 230, 231, 233, 234
237-9, 245-9, 256-9, 263, 265-8
270, 271, 275-81,286-9, 296, 304
308.
Taganrog, 29.

Taguil, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20.
,, arrive there, 19.
., description of the village

of, 13.
,, iron-works, 19, 21.
., Lake, 13, 14.
„ leave, 23.
„ River, 13, 15.
Takhua, 160.

Tarantasses, 39, 40, 42, 48, 49, 310
Tarkhaty country, 2S2.

„ River, 108, 275, 276, 277

281.
„ Valley, 276.
Tartars at Kasan, 10.
Tashkend, 309.
Task (rock), 60.
Tchagan-Burgaza, the, 83, 93,

10S, 182, 277, 282, 286, 288.
Tchagan-Burgaza Valley, 96.
Tchagan-Kol River, 200-2,
206-8, 215, 219, 226, 227. 2
preparing to cross, 205.
Tchagan-Kol Valley, 227.
Tchagan-Sou (white water), 14^

94,

324

INDEX

Tcheliabinsk, 23.

Tchergk, 48, 49.

Tchibit, a tributary stream, 81.

Tchichatcheff (a Russian traveller),

34-
Tchouia Valley, 25, 78, 81, 294.

,, path, 26, 65.

River, 68, 72, 75, 81, 82,
84, 294.
Teletzkoi Lake, 36, 39.
Tenga Lake, 56, 60.
Tents, 3.

Tetraogalhts (Snowcock), 196.
Tezek (dry horsedung for fuel), 98,

154, 162.
Theodor. Father, 27, 29.
Tibet, 204, 227.
Tibetan plateaus, 84.
Tiger in Barnaoul Museum, 34.
Tomsk, 27-30, 47.

„ Governor of, 25, 26.
Trees, 25, 47, 48, 94, 200, 202, 213

223, 295, 297, 302, 304, 305.
Turki dialect, 60.

Uliassoutai, 26, 55.

Ullar (Snowcock), 196.

Ural Mountains, 6, 13, 16, 23, 25.

„ borders of Siberia, 28.
Urusoul River, 66.

Vassili, the cook, 20, 33, 61, 66, 92,

98, 116, 154.
Volga, 6, 7, 9, 10.

Ward, Mr. Rowland, 1.
West Siberian Railway, 20, 23.
White Fox, 15.

Wild Sheep (see also Ovis), 82, 84,
87,95,220,221,279.
„ haunts, 87.

„ horns and skulls on

bed of stream, 95.
„ in Barnaoul Museum,

34-
Willow bushes, 94, 200.

„ Grouse, 132.
Wissmann, Major, 309.
Wolf, 187.

Wolves attack the ponies, 143, 145.
Woodcock shooting at Taguil, 19.
,, habits of, 19.

Yakoub, the demitcha, 94, 139, 168.

Yaks, 179, 180, 185.

Yourts, or felt-covered tents, 57, 66,
75, 76, 78,98, 169, 171, 174, 177,
181, 202, 213, 228, 276, 299, 301.

Yulduz Valley, 4.

Yulientash, 307.

Zaissans, or native chiefs, 58, 59, 85,
86, 89, 90, 93, 201, 231, 251, 284,
290, 293, 299, 300, 301, 309.

Zaissan Semion, 85, 89, 92, 230,
240-2.

Zassedatel Meyer (see Meyer), 310.

Zeiss glasses, 112, 1 13, 156, 159, 246

A SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS

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(Sport, TErabcl, ant) ^latutal ^istorn

PUBLISHED BY

ROWLAND WARD, limited

" THE JUNGLE"
1 66, PICCADILLY, LONDON

Post 8vo. Bound in leather. Price y. 6d. net.

GREAT GAME SHOOTING AND PRACTICAL
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Zhc Sportsman's Ibanoboofe

TO PRACTICAL COLLECTING, PRESERVING,

AND

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TO WHICH IS ADDED

H Synoptical (Suioc to tbe ibimting (Srounos ot tbc Wotli>

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London: ROWLAND WARD, limited

"THE JUNGLE,'- 166, PICCADILLY

V 2

Royal 8jw, 477 pp. Price 25J. net.

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE IN SOUTH-EAST
AFRICA

BEING THE NARRATIVE OF THE LAST ELEVEN

YEARS SPENT BY THE AUTHOR

ON THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES

WITH

AN ACCOUNT OF THE COLONIZATION OF MASHONALAND

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PROGRESS OF THE GOLD INDUSTRY IN THAT COUNTRY

By F. C. SELOUS

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WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP

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SUNSHINE AND STORM IN RHODESIA

BEING A NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN MATABELELAND

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London: ROWLAND WARD, limited

"THE JUNGLE," 166, PICCADILLY

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SEVENTEEN TRIPS THROUGH SOMALILAND

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A RECORD OF EXPLORATION AND BIG GAME
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By MAJOR H. G. C. S WAYNE, R.E.

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THE ENGLISH ANGLER IN FLORIDA

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"THE JUNGLE,'' 166, PICCADILLY

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ELEPHANT-HUNTING
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SAVAGES OF THE LOROGI MOUNTAINS

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COLOURED PLATE AND MAP

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SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR

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"THE JUNGLE," 166, PICCADILLY

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SPORT IN EAST CENTRAL AFRICA

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HUNTING TRIPS IN PORTUGUESE AND OTHER

DISTRICTS OF EAST CENTRAL AFRICA

By F. VAUGHAN KIRBY
(maqaqamba)

AUTHOR OF "IN HAUNTS OF WILD GAME"

/ / 7 TH IL L US TR A TIONS

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HUNTING TRIPS IN THE CAUCASUS

By E. DEMIDOFF (Prince San Donato)

WITH 96 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP

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"THE JUNGLE," 166, PICCADILLY

Royal Svo, 524 pages. Price 30/- net. Third edition

RECORDS OF BIG GAME

WITH THEIR DISTRIBUTION, CHARACTERISTICS
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MEASUREMENTS OF HORNS
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THE DEER OF ALL LANDS

A HISTORY OF THE FAMILY CERVID.F:
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By R. LYDEKKER

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also a number of Process-Drawings of Horns, as well as

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London: ROWLAND WARD, limited

"THE JUNGLE, " i66, PICCADILLY

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Uniform with the above. 612 //. Price £$ $s. net

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General Editor— H. A. BRYDEN

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