7 8 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



a pitch of exaltation after a few hours that one of 

 them fell senseless to the ground, and died shortly 

 afterwards. The other kaam was thereupon re- 

 garded as the conqueror, and crowds of Kalmuks 

 used to throng round his " yourt " to consult his spirit. 

 Kalmuks do not bury their dead, but place the 

 corpse on wooden planks strewn with branches, 

 where it is left at the disposal of vultures and 

 other animals of prey. Mongols consider it a 

 profanation of the soil to bury their dead, and 

 simply leave them on the spot where they died ; 

 they do not even allow bodies of Russian merchants 

 who happen to die in Mongolia to be buried, but 

 sometimes remove the corpse into Russian territory. 

 The Government has lately taken measures to prevent 

 this in the Altai, as well as the inhuman treatment 

 of animals ; but these ancient customs still prevail 

 in the remoter parts of the country. 



We spent the whole of the following day (June 

 nth) in marching up the valley of the Tchouia, 

 whose muddy waters flowed rapidly beneath us. 

 Here also we had to pass frequent "bomas," which 

 rather delayed our journey, ponies refusing at places 

 to advance over the steep craggy path. We managed, 

 however, to reach our destination that night, after 

 having covered another fifty versts, and camped by 



