SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



Kalgan. It had been decided that the nearest 

 point where we coidd hope to get any shooting was 

 Hsi-wan-tzii, where, we were told, a certain amount 

 of small timber, growing on the steep mountains, 

 gave shelter to a few roe-deer and some small 

 game. Our road lay up the main valley north- 

 ward from Kalgan, and soon we were up to our 

 necks in trouble. The whole valley was one mass 

 of ice, accumulated during the winter by the daily 

 overflowing of the permanent stream and the 

 nightly freezing of the surface water. Now, the 

 weather becoming daily more mild, this ice had 

 weakened considerably, so that the wheels of 

 our heavily laden carts went through, while 

 the teams slipped and floundered about in their 

 desperate struggles to disengage the unwieldy 

 vehicles. No sooner was one cart free than the 

 next would fall into the same difficulty. By 

 dint of much exertion, the breaking of ice, and the 

 concentration of horse power upon the cart in 

 difficulties, our carters finally succeeded in getting 

 them across the half-mile or so of ice on to dry 

 ground. So long did this take, however, that we 

 could not accomplish more than fifteen miles 

 the first day, and were obliged to put up at a 

 small village named Hsin-yin-tzu, where we ob- 

 tained comfortable quarters. 



The following day we continued up the valley, 

 now running in an easterly direction. We were 

 hampered by more ice in a very rotten condition. 



88 



