344 UNKNOWN MONGOLIA 



of the shooting, but, considering the short time we 

 had been hunting, we had done fairly well. 



However, we were destined to spend one more day 

 in the Uigur Valley, as on the following morning Car- 

 ruthers developed a severe chill, necessitating a day in 

 bed. Price went out hunting, and I contented myself 

 with taking photographs and measuring derelict heads. 

 Not far from camp I came upon a remarkably fine 

 wapiti head with both horns attached to the skull ; 

 though it was very much dried up and bleached, it 

 measured 50 in. in length, 47J in. in spread, and 10 in. 

 in girth above the burr, with twelve well-developed 

 points. I was told by hunters that the snow lies to 

 such a depth in winter in the forests on the Russian 

 side, and the wapiti are so hard put to it for food, that 

 they come right up on to the sheep ground, where 

 large areas are blown clear of snow. 



A knowledge of the present distribution of Ovis 

 ammon typica, as far as it is known, may be of use to 

 future travellers, especially to those who contemplate 

 pioneering on new hunting-grounds. Undoubtedly, in 

 by-gone ages, the distribution of these sheep was con- 

 siderably wider than it is at the present day. At the 

 period of Central Asian history when the whole land 

 was one great battle-field, and every able-bodied man 

 was drafted into the ranks of the vast hordes which 

 swept backwards and forwards under the banners of 

 Jenghis and other conquerors, people could have had 

 little time for hunting, and, in all probability, lived 

 in compact communities for safety's sake ; this allowed 

 the sheep to roam undisturbed over large areas to-day 

 overrun by the nomads. 



In more recent times the introduction of firearms 



