YARKAND TO MARALBASHI 43 



then ; in fact, he thought one ought to get a shot 

 every day, which I consider to be far too high an 

 estimate. The people here have matchlock guns 

 only, and shoot but little, and then chiefly during the 

 time when the stags' horns are soft, as these horns 

 have a considerable value for the Chinese market ; 

 but the mosquitoes are so bad in the jungle that 

 not many hunters go out. 



A word here as to the said mosquitoes. They are 

 simply awful. Late at night they give one some 

 peace, but they start again before dawn, and cur- 

 tains, veils, and gloves are necessities of existence. 

 The shikari said that by October they were nearly 

 all gone, which I rather doubt, and that one could 

 then live in the jungle all right ; but he con- 

 fessed that he would not care to try it much 

 before ; Aksakmaral is a particularly bad place for 

 them. 



The tiger is not found quite so much to the west 

 as this at least, so far as the Yarkand River is 

 concerned. Wolves exist, but are scarce. Wild 

 pigs are abundant, but the swampy, khamish-covered 

 country which they inhabit is against seeing much 

 of them. Other game consists of geese, duck, a 

 fair lot of pheasants in some places, and a few 

 hares ; but the geese and duck all migrate before 

 Christmas, when the hard frost sets in. The winter 

 hereabouts is not very severe ; little or no snow 

 falls, and though the thermometer goes well below 



