200 THE WAPITI OF KANSIT 



therein lies their sole safeguard, for minus their 

 horns their commercial value is small. So soon, 

 however, as the new horns have attained a respect- 

 able length the hunters are again hot in pursuit, 

 and far from wondering at the comparative paucity 

 of their numbers it is a matter of astonishment 

 that they hav^e not been totally exterminated long 

 since. No deer that I have ever met with has so 

 hard a time, for in no other country are a deer's 

 horns, when in the velvet, of any substantial com- 

 mercial value. They therefore, even in the absence 

 of game regulations, have rest for a considerable, if 

 not a greater portion of the year. 



The natives of a district abounding in game 

 seldom, as a general rule, produce any appreciable 

 effect on its numbers. Their methods of destruc- 

 tion are too primitive, and the incentive to hunt is 

 confined to the necessities of food and clothing. 



Given, however, a race of hunters (and nearly 

 every man on the Thibetan border possesses a gun), 

 plus a powerful motive for the killing of game, and 

 its annihilation becomes inevitable. It may take 

 generations — some exotic factor such as the impor- 

 tation of modern rifles may hasten it within an 

 inconceivably short period — but that it will sooner 

 or later disappear, unless the evil is checked 

 by drastic reforms, is as certain as the setting of 

 the sun. 



Time is a matter of no consideration to the 

 native hunter. He takes his gun, his coat, and a 

 handful of food, finds his game, sleeps anywhere, 

 and eventually bags his beast. It is pitiable, but it 

 is inevitable. 



No sympathy can be felt for the educated and 



