Hunting at High Altitudes 



next best being a set 54 inches, shot ten years ago 

 by Mr. Church, the author of "With Rifle and 

 Caravan in Chinese Turkestan." While in the 

 canon where we went for wapiti I saw the tracks 

 of a bear, but could not find him in the thick 

 brush, where no doubt he was living on wild 

 currants and other fruit, and in all our travels we 

 did not see any sign of leopard, either of the com- 

 mon variety or the snow leopard. 



If on starting I had known as much about the 

 country as I knew when we left it, our trip would 

 have been much more successful. I have made no 

 mention of the several mistakes we made. First, 

 we did not know until we reached Tashkent that 

 there is for sale a map showing all the post roads 

 with the distances between stations. If we had 

 known that there was a post road to Kuldja from 

 the north, we would have shot in the Altai first. 

 Secondly, in July and August all the rivers are in 

 flood, and at that time very apt to delay travel 

 until a few cloudy days prevent the melting of the 

 glaciers, thus lowering the streams. Thirdly, that 

 Kalmuks are better hunters than any other tribe, 

 and fourthly, that it seems true that the biggest 

 heads are in the highest mountains. 



If I were to take the trip again I should go to 

 the Altai in the north for argali (Ovis ammon), 



342 

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