The Passing" of the Wapiti. 



days gone by a noted haunt of wapiti, though.now their numbers 

 have sadly diminished due, as already remarked, to the ruthless 

 persecution by native hunters. 



Whilst sitting round the camp fire that night Nurah and 

 Numgoon related stories of earlier days spent in the pursuit of this 

 noble stag, Nurah telling me he had once bagged twenty-four 

 within a month, getting three in one day. As a good pair of 

 antlers commands about £io he, during that month at any rate 

 did more than passing well. 



Certain it is the day is not far distant when the Asiatic wapiti, 

 e'en now all too rare, will have passed for ever from the forests of 

 the Thian Shan in the same way as the bison, once found in 

 countless herds, has disappeared from the prairies of North 

 America. 



It was freezing hard, but we were fairly comfortable under 

 the spreading pines, and as there was an abundance of firewood 

 we had quite a good time. We started off soon after daybreak, 

 Nurah and T, to look for wapiti, illik, and boar, the flesh of 

 the latter being greatly esteemed by the Kalmuks. There must 

 be a number of boars about, judging from the tracks and the 

 state of the ground where it had been ripped up by the 

 pigs in their search for roots, which constitute their principal 

 diet. The boar only comes out at night or in the very early 

 morning, so that anyone desirous of his blood would have to be 

 about during those hours since he retires to the depths of the 

 forest at dawn of day. 



From the high ground above the Muntai Valley I had a line 

 view of the Tekkes and the hills to the north. Nurah pointed 

 out Kok Bel, which lies on the far side and is said to be a good 

 place for Ovis karelini, or whatever the correct name should be 

 for the wild sheep there found. It is two marches from the 

 Agiass, but unfortunately I could not find time to go there, 

 as I had intended, after the ibex shoot. 



From this open ground I struck off into the forests again to 

 the; south and south-east, coming on some illik during the 



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