70 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



had probably been stolen and then lost by the 

 thieves on their retreat through the hills. Our 

 Kirghiz managed to catch it, saying that it would 

 furnish them with many a good meal, and so I 

 suppose we became accessories after the fact in a 

 horse-stealing case ; it was a young beast and, for a 

 wonder, unbranded. 



All the people here eat horse-flesh, so a stolen 

 herd represents food, transport, and eventually profit 

 if they can be got over the frontier and sold. This 

 traffic ought easily to be stopped, as nearly all the 

 beasts have well-known brands on them ; but they 

 are sold quite openly on the Russian side. 



In the afternoon of course we went out, full 

 of hope and cheered by the shikaris' assurances 

 that this place was a certainty. Having got 

 out of our camp-valley and gone some distance 

 along a ridge, I took up a commanding position 

 among some rocks and sat down to watch the sur- 

 rounding country and enjoy the afternoon sun. 

 Beneath me was a deep valley, some three or four 

 miles in length, the foot of which joined the main 

 valley of the Mintaka ; one side was grass, the 

 other pine forest. In this latter the deer were 

 supposed to be, and the plan was to wait until they 

 either called or came out into the open and then 

 see what could be done. With me were my Kirghiz 

 shikari and one of our own men the latter, a keen 

 but ignorant sportsman, brought to interpret and to 



