ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



Na-mon-gin was in high good humor, for I had killed 

 two deer with two shots. Harry brought a splendid 

 doe which he had bored neatly through the body as it 

 dashed at full speed across the valley below him. Even 

 the old Mongol had to admit that the wapiti could not 

 have been greatly disturbed by the shooting, and all the 

 men were as pleased as children. There was meat 

 enough for all our boys as well as for the beaters. 



Our next day's hunt was for goral on the precipitous 

 cliffs north of camp. Goral belong to a most interest- 

 ing group of mammals known as the "goat-antelopes" 

 because of the intermediate position which they occupy 

 between the true antelope and the goats. The takin, 

 serow, and goral are the Asiatic members of this 

 sub-family, the'Rupicaprince, which is represented in 

 America by the so-called Rocky Mountain goat and in 

 Europe by the chamois. The goral might be called the 

 Asiatic chamois, for its habits closely resemble those 

 of its European relative. 



I had killed twenty-five goral in Yiin-nan on the first 

 Asiatic expedition and, therefore, was not particularly 

 keen, from the sporting standpoint, about shooting oth- 

 ers. But we did need several specimens, since the north 

 China goral represents a different species, Nemor- 

 hcedus caudatus, from the one we had obtained in Yun- 

 nan, which is N. griseus. 



Moreover, Harry was exceedingly anxious to get sev- 

 eral of the animals for he had not been very successful 

 with them. He had shot one at Wu-shi-tu, while we 

 were hunting sheep, and after wounding two others at 



