THE KIREI OF THE ALTAI 367 



to lie along the Russo-Chinese frontier, and chiefly on 

 the Chinese side of it. In such localities as the Tian 

 Shan this is undoubtedly the case, for the Kasaks of 

 the Russian territory, — finding their lands too cramped 

 and too crowded, through rapid increase in their popu- 

 lation and by reason of the influx of Russian colonists, 

 — are now moving into Chinese territory, where there 

 is more space in which to settle. 



There are other localities where this Russian influence 

 is entirely absent, and yet we find the same movement 

 of the Mohammedan nomad tribes ; this fact is there- 

 fore undoubtedly due to an increase in the population, 

 or to a demand for better pastures, owing to desiccation. 

 This latter reason would account for the universal desire 

 to move into higher country. 



With the Kirei, for instance, in spite of the ample 

 lands and the best pasture in the Altai ranges, an attempt 

 is being made by those members of the tribe who inhabit 

 the most southern portion of their territory — namely, 

 the Baitik Mountains and the Dzungarian plains — to 

 acquire the rights to pasture their flocks still farther 

 south, in the Bogdo-ola ranges. As a fact, the Kirei 

 are endeavouring to extend their borders towards the 

 well-pastured and unoccupied ranges of the Eastern 

 Tian Shan, but are hindered in their project by the 

 determination of the Chinese authorities to keep those 

 regions for themselves. 



Thus we see that the nomadic Moslem tribes of this 

 part of Inner Asia exhibit signs of progress and increase 

 which the Buddhist tribes do not show. 



At this season — mid-September — the Kirei were on 

 their autumn migrations, and as we rode along the banks 

 of the Upper Kobdo River we accosted small bands of 

 II— 4 



