66 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



We asked the locals, who were not Kalmaks, if 

 they were common, and were told that they were, 

 which is the usual answer to inquiries about game ; 

 but we never saw any more, and in time the Turki 

 phrase, Told bd " There are many" became a 

 stock joke in camp ; however, it is possible that 

 they migrate early, and that those we got were the 

 last of them. There were large flocks of pigeons 

 here, blue-rocks, the most ubiquitous of birds, and 

 we shot a lot of them for the pot. 



Another march of twenty miles took us to Kuk- 

 turuk. About seven miles from starting we crossed 

 the Mintaka or Minta stream close to its junction 

 with the Tekkes, and thence followed the latter river, 

 from which our last camp had been distant some 

 two or three miles. The river here is fringed with 

 poplars and willows, which afford shelter to a few 

 pheasants ; but we had not much time to go looking 

 for them, and only got one or two duck, which we 

 found in a backwater. 



At Kukturuk the Kazaks told us that there were 

 two Kirghiz, celebrated hunters, camped a bit 

 further up the stream, so they were sent for in hot 

 haste, and arrived in the evening. 



Things now began to look more promising. 

 Stags ? Oh, yes, plenty of them in the hills, two 

 days' journey away. Would they come with us ? 

 Certainly, provided we left some of our men at 

 their camp to protect their families and herds from 



