CHAPTER XII. 



Sport in the Thian Shan Mountains. 



To the sportsman, Central Asia is known as a great hunting 

 ground in general, and the Thian Shan in particular as the home 

 of the big Turkistan ibex and the Asiatic wapiti. It may well 

 be termed a happy hunting ground, but, as is usual with all good 

 things, is difficult of access. As I have shown in the preceding 

 pages, to the shikari journeying thither from India many obstacles 

 are presented. He must cross the mighty ranges of the Hima- 

 layas and the Hindu Kush, must march over the Pamirs, 

 that region of awe-inspiring immensity so well termed the 

 Roof of the World. Thence onward, ever onward, across the 

 plains of Turkistan, dotted here and there with trees and foliage 

 and groups of mud-built houses, the oasis in this Central Asian 

 Sahara, until linally he reaches the Celestial Mountains. There, 

 the goal attained and camped amidst the pine forest and grassy 

 slopes, he forgets the toil and hardships, the stupendous ranges 

 of mountains he has crossed, the rushing torrents he has success- 

 fully negotiated, all the perils and dangers attaching to such an 

 undertaking, and longs only to come face to face with ibex on 

 the rock-bound corries, and hear the wapiti calling in the dense 

 forests which form so prominent a feature of this happy land. 



Such, indeed, were my own feelings when I camped that 

 night by the Kirghiz yurts, feelings of ineffable gratification at 

 the thought that I was at last near the end of my journey to 

 the Thian Shan, and amongst the ibex and wapiti. 



It will here be of interest to give a description of the Tekkes, 

 the principal river of the region in question. It takes its 

 rise amongst the glaciers of the Thian Shan near the peak of 



