CHAPTER X. 

 KUNGES TO KULDJA 



ON December 7th we moved on some seven miles 

 to the foot of the Kunges. Here we paid off our 

 Kalmaks, Durji and I parting with, I think, mutual 

 regret, while he expressed a hope that some day I 

 might again revisit the Tekkes and do a month or 

 two's shooting with him in Koksu. 



We spent several days about here, moving our 

 camp across the Tekkes River on the i4th. The ford 

 was deep in spite of the river being divided into 

 three channels ; but the bottom was good, consisting 

 of firm gravel, so there were none of the customary 

 but none the less distressing slipping and stumbling 

 over boulders. From time to time we shifted our 

 camp on a little, and used to go pheasant-shooting 

 most days. There were a great many pheasants 

 about, but as we did not know what to do with a 

 lot, if we shot them, we only used to go out for two 

 or three hours in the afternoon, usually getting 

 about twenty pheasants and a few hares. Our best 

 bag was twenty-seven, and four hares, but if we had 

 cared to, I think we could have got from eighty to 



132 



