86 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



different sorts, specimens of which were soon caught 

 and stuffed after a fashion a messy and rather diffi- 

 cult job for my unaccustomed fingers, and one from 

 which I was glad to be relieved by an early fall of 

 snow, after which the rats remained underground. 



On the nth Morse came up from Jilgalong ; he 

 had been in the country for some months, and had 

 had good sport, getting several stags in Jilgalong 

 during the past month and a lot of very fine ibex in 

 Akjas during the spring and early summer. His 

 shikaris were Kalmaks, and he swore by them, say- 

 ing that he knew nothing about the others, but 

 that Kalmaks were good enough for him. We 

 decided to get Kalmak shikaris and go to Akjas for 

 some ibex-shooting before the weather got too cold 

 for the high ground. Morse said that he wanted 

 no more ibex, but that he would come too for 

 company's sake, as he was getting rather tired of 

 his own. So on the I5th we made a start, going a 

 cross route through the hills, which finally took us 

 over a pass and so down into the middle of Akjas 

 Valley. 



The first evening out from Kukturuk the other 

 two amused themselves shooting black game, while 

 I went off on the odd chance of seeing a stag. I 

 did, to my great surprise, see one with two hinds, 

 but as he was both small and a very long way off I 

 left him in peace. It began to snow heavily before 

 camp was reached and continued to do so all night, 



