230 AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN. 



live in villages of grey felt tents, but, unlike the former, 

 who are Mohammedans, are Buddhists by religion, their 

 priests or lamas easily recognisable by their scarlet 

 and yellow robes. Their features are of the true Mon- 

 golian type, with little hair upon the face, while they 

 wear the orthodox Chinese pig-tail hanging far down 

 their backs. Among the Kalmuks of Tekkes was one 

 who, like Nimrod of old, was " a mighty hunter," and 

 so great was his reputation in this respect that, though 

 usage among the Kalmuks demands that the younger 

 shall serve the older, men of greater age than he would 

 unhesitatingly obey him in the chase. I was not sur- 

 prised, therefore, to hear that he was away hunting in 

 the mountains ; but luck was with me, for he too had 

 selected the Oriyaas valley as his hunting-ground, and 

 on June 3 I ran him to ground, and secured his services 

 during the time that I was shooting. My quarry was 

 of course the ibex, since the horns of the wapiti, like 

 those of the red-deer, do not reach a state of perfection 

 until August or September. Not so with the Kalmuks. 

 Their hunting is for existence, not for sport, and by an 

 unlucky chance for the persecuted stag, the medicinal 

 property of the unformed horn commands a high price 

 throughout China, — as much as ten roubles (over 21s.) 

 a pound, — so that during the months of June and July 

 he is hunted and pursued with relentless perseverance. 

 A fixed salary, however, and the promise of a present 

 for every big head that fell to my rifle, was sufficient 

 temptation to induce Nurah — the Kalmuk Nimrod — to 

 leave for a time the less certain occupation of hunting 

 wapiti ; and having engaged two other Kalmuks, Hoh- 

 Hah and Jergol, to make themselves useful on the 

 hillside and in camp, I lost no time in trying my luck 

 after ibex. 



As already stated, the sport obtainable is of the best, 



