4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



in a wild country. The choice fell upon 1 )r. Newsky, 

 who had been actively engaged in Russian Turkestan 

 during- the time when cholera was raging there. He 

 seemed most willing to accompany us, and expressed 

 the intention of taking numerous photographs and 

 collecting botanical as well as geological specimens 

 for the St. Petersburg" Museum. I received a most 

 encouraging letter from Mr. P. Semenoff, Vice- 

 President of the Imperial Geographical Society, 

 urging" me to bring back as much information as I 

 could on the country I was about to visit, adding that 

 the slightest details, to whatever branch of science 

 they might belong, would be most acceptable to the 

 Society. Mr. Alpheraki, a Russian naturalist, called 

 upon me and gave me a highly interesting account 

 of his travels to Kuldja and the Yulduz valleys, 

 stating that he had brought back many new species 

 of insects and plants, and expressing the hope that 

 I would likewise contribute to his collection. Unfor- 

 tunately I was wholly unprepared for such scientific 

 objects, and deprecated his too sanguine expectations. 

 Mr. Alpheraki was at that time (and I believe is 

 still) engaged in completing a work on the Anatidce 

 of the Russian Empire. He was kind enough to 

 show me some advanced coloured plates which were 

 to illustrate his interesting" book, and they appeared 



