32 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



cedar woods were to be seen, and grew denser as 

 we advanced. Villages were extremely scarce, the 

 steamer calling only at four or five landing-places 

 during the forty hours we were on board. The 

 distance by land is much shorter, and takes about 

 sixteen hours with good horses, but owing to the 

 wide zigzags of the river and the comparatively slow 

 pace at which we went against ' the strong- current, 

 we could hardly expect to reach our destination 

 sooner. At the few stations where the steamer halted 

 I was struck by the beautiful sight of rock-cherry 

 bushes in full bloom ; the banks were literally covered 

 with snowy - white flowers, in which numbers of 

 nightingales sang in praise of spring. The weather 

 was cloudless, and added to the enjoyment of the 

 wild scenery. In addition to this, the General and 

 the Ispravnik gave highly interesting descriptions of 

 the regions we were about to visit, with valuable 

 information on the Kalmuks and their ways, inter- 

 mingling their accounts with many Siberian tales and 

 anecdotes. High were our expectations, and every 

 sportsman will understand the feelings we expe- 

 rienced in anticipation of the sport to which we so 

 keenly looked forward. We did our best in trans- 

 lating to share these accounts with the Littledales, 

 who were under the same spell as ourselves. 



