ANTELOPE SHOOTING IN MONGOLIA. 43 



we had to hurry on after our carts, or run the risk of losing them for 

 the night. 



When we got to Tabool, a place about one hundred miles noi^th 

 of Kalgan we stopped for a fortnight, and got in some good days after 

 the antelopes. We were very kindly supplied with fresh mounts, a 

 thing we very seriously needed by now, and were also put up and 

 royally entertained by a well known missionary and his devoted wife. 



Altogether we got five antelopes while in this district. Our mode 

 of procedure was to ride out to the herd of ponies and there change 

 our mounts for fresh ones. Then we would set out for one or other 

 of the groups of hills that lay along the horizon. Reaching these, 

 generally by midforenoon, we would climb ridge after ridge till we 

 spotted a herd of buck. It may be explained that the bucks with the 

 best heads were always to be found in twos and threes amongst the 

 hills. Having located our quarry, we would take careful note of the 

 lie of the land and the direction in which the antelopes were moving. 

 We would then get out of sight behind the ridge and attempt to work 

 round to some point of vantage. It was no easy task to decide which 

 was the particular knoll that one had noted so carefully before, and 

 we would frequently be disappointed in not getting within easy range 

 of the animals. Still, when we did succeed in stalking and bringing 

 dowDi a nice buck it made up for a lot. 



My best head I secured after riding a couple of buck down, by 

 taking full advantage of the rolling nature of the plain and urging my 

 pony to its utmost speed each time they disappeared into a hollow, 

 and slacking into a trot each time they reappeared. In this way I 

 gradually decreased the distance between them and me, and, when they 

 were within range, jumped off my pony and took a quick successful 

 shot. 



The beauty of this sport was that one never need give up hope 

 of getting a shot, even when one had turned one's pony towards camp; 

 for at any moment a buck might spring up from the long grass and 

 stand a few seconds ere it broke away. Sometimes a herd would 

 come sweeping by in full flight from some danger in its rear. At such 

 times one might get several shots in before the antelopes reahzed that 

 a new danger threatened them. 



Our host, who had spent the best part of fifteen years in the 

 district, had many interesting anecdotes to tell, and certainly, con- 

 sidering the number of antelopes we saw in the vicinity of his bung- 

 alow he would have plenty of opportunity of becoming an expert with 

 the rifle. His best performance was getting three bucks out of a small 



