ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



The particular wapiti which we hoped to get at Wu- 

 tai-hai represented a species almost extinct in China. 

 Because of relentless persecution when the antlers are 

 growing and in the "velvet" and continual cutting of 

 the forests only a few individuals remain in this remote 

 corner of northern Shansi Province. These will soon 

 all be killed, for the railroad is being extended to within 

 a few miles of their last stronghold, and sportsmen will 

 flock to the hills from the treaty ports of China. 



Our first hunt was on November first. We left camp 

 by a short cut behind the village and descended to the 

 bowlder-strewn bed of the creek which led into a tre- 

 mendous gorge. We felt very small and helpless as 

 our eyes traveled up the well-nigh vertical walls to the 

 ragged edge of the chasm a thousand feet above us. 

 The mightiness of it all was vaguely depressing, and 

 it was with a distinct feeling of relief that we saw the 

 canon widen suddenly into a gigantic amphitheater. In 

 its very center, rising from a ragged granite pedestal, 

 a pinnacle of rock, crowned by a tiny temple, shot into 

 the air. It was three hundred feet, at least, from the 

 stream bed to the summit of the spire and what a 

 colossal task it must have been to transport the build- 

 ing materials for the temple up the sheer sides of rock ! 

 The valley sinners must gain much merit from the dan- 

 ger and effort involved in climbing there to worship. 



Farther on we passed two villages and then turned 

 off to the right up a tributary valley. We were anx- 

 iously looking for signs of forest, but the only possible 

 cover was in a few ravines where a sparse growth of 



