Across the Roof of the World. 



I put lip in the serai at the tiny hamlet of Setai, 20 miles 

 east, where there were only a few Chinese, deep-dyed scoundrels, 

 one of whom, an old rascal, black with the dirt of ages, tried 

 to swindle me heavily over some grass for the ponies, by de- 

 manding a price that would have purchased a haystack. But I 

 had travelled too far to be so easily done. Unfortunately he 

 could only speak Chinese so that all my polite language was lost 

 upon him. 



I found numbers of gazelle round Setai, but the ground is 

 quite bare and open, merely a stony plain with withered grass 

 here and there, affording no cover whatever for stalking. 



This gazelle is much akin to the Indian Chinkara {Gazella 

 hennetti), only from my experience the average horn measure- 

 ment does not exceed 10 inches. It is of a slightly different 

 species to those found in Southern Turkistan and exceedingly 

 difficult to stalk. I found it hopeless trying to get near enough 

 for a shot, as they begin jumping when one is a good 400 to 500 

 yards off. 



I was after them again on the 21st, and must have encountered 

 50 or 60 during the course of the day, but the stalking was a hard 

 proposition. I had two long shots, but missed each time. I 

 should much like to have secured a specimen of the gazelle, but 

 in two days one could not expect to do much. Probably had I 

 remained a little longer I might have secured one by a fluke, for 

 I could see no other way of doing it, taking into consideration 

 their extreme wariness and the difficult nature of the ground 

 they inhabit. 



I could not afford any more time in their j)ursuit so reluctantly 

 packed up on the 22nd, and, striking across the wide and stony 

 valley, marched through the Borokhoro Hills on the northern 

 side of which flows the Borotala River. 



The Borokhoro are barren mountains, rock and gravel strewn, 

 with here and there wormwood and low-stunted scrub in the 

 ravines and narrow valleys by which they are intersected. On the 

 northern side of the range the road debouches on to an immense 



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