Stalking Wild Skeep. 



plain stretching away to the Borotala River and the mountains 

 in Russian Turkistan to the north-west. I followed the track 

 across this plain for several miles, trying unsuccessfully to stalk 

 some " jeran," or gazelle, on the way, until reaching the Borotala 

 River, on the other side of which there is a settlement of Kalmuks 

 and Taranchis. The ford through the river was quite passable, 

 for at this season of the year all the streams contained little 

 water. 



I found the rest of the caravan installed in a house prepared 

 for my reception, an attention that was all the more welcome 

 by reason of the bitter cold without. The majority of the people 

 here were Kalmuks, the head man in charge of the district being 

 also a Kalmuk, acting under the orders of the Chang Jung at 

 Suidun. He called on me and I arranged for the hire of fresh 

 transport in accordance with the orders contained in the formidable 

 looking document the Viceroy had furnishc me with. All details 

 being satisfactorily settled I decided t'- move again the next 

 day and north-east to the great Ebi Nor Lake. 



I had heard from various sources of a variety of argali of the 

 great Argali sheep of Central Asia existing in the hills to the north 

 of the Ebi Nor, so with the object of testing the information 

 determined to devote a few days in the hope of securing what is 

 undoubtedly an undetermined species. 



I was also informed at Borotala that ibex roamed the hills 

 bordering on Russian Turkistan to the north-west, but little 

 information was available as to their numbers and size of horns, 

 none of the Kalmuks having apparently ever shot them, so I 

 deemed it scarcely worth while going off the line of my route on 

 what might have easily proved a wild goose chase. 



On the morning of November 23rd I started out from 

 Borotala, taking a direction north-east across the plain, entering 

 some low undulating country 12 miles further on. The sheep 

 ground was said to be east of this on the shores of the mighty 

 Ebi Nor, and a Kalmuk shikari I had picked up in Borotala 

 informed me he had often encountered them there. It did not, 



321 Y 



