56o DZUNGARIA 



I should be ashamed to say how many cartridges were 

 expended in the next minute or two. Even a musketry 

 instructor at Hythe would have marvelled at the rapidity 

 with which our bolts worked ! But, though dust was 

 spurting up all round that hurrying, shaggy figure, the 

 distance was too great, and she showed no signs of being 

 touched ; the last we saw of that trio was the old bear 

 looking defiantly back at us from a hill-top, waiting 

 for those two precious balls of fur which she had out- 

 paced in her flight. I should feel inclined to omit this 

 regrettable incident, were it not an excellent example of 

 what not to do under similar conditions. This bear was 

 unusually dark ; most of the skins we have seen in the 

 bazaars are of a browny yellow colour ; but she was 

 nearly black, and of large size. 



Large piles of tezek and stone kraals proved that 

 herdsmen must visit this region in winter. During the 

 summer not a single Kalmuk dare venture into the 

 upper Borotala or Urta Saryk ; this is owing to their 

 fear of the Russian Kasaks from the north. These 

 freebooters from over the border lose no opportunity of 

 swooping down upon any outlying herds and shooting 

 down with impunity any Kalmuk who interferes. At any 

 rate, this was the tale we were told, and it is doubtless 

 true, though we gathered that the Kalmuks return the 

 compliment whenever a thoroughly safe opportunity 

 presents itself. 



In the winter, when the northern passes are closed, 

 Kalmuk herdsmen overrun the upper Borotala and 

 Urta Saryk. In addition, considerable numbers of 

 Chinese Kasaks, who summer on the eastern side of 

 Sairam Nor, move into these more sheltered regions, 

 paying a considerable sum to the Ambans for the right 



