SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



very poor in mammals. Indeed, besides the sheep, 

 the roe-deer, a few gorals and the wolf, the only 

 mammals we saw were one or two chipmunks. 

 Birds also were very scarce ; eagles, kites, crows, 

 larks and a few partridges and chukars were all we 

 saw. The scarcity of animal life in this district is 

 doubtless due to the corresponding lack of vegeta- 

 tion, there being only very little scrub and no 

 timber, either large or small. 



Wapiti 



Our next objective was a point some thirty miles 

 west of the sheep country, where, the natives 

 said, there were plenty of wapiti, and even tigers. 

 Thus, after a day or two spent in K'uei-hua-ch'eng 

 we once more left that town, taking a westerly 

 direction. We had the five camels again, this time 

 augmented by a cart, as we had further to go and 

 were taking more stuff. 



W^e followed the main road for seventy li (about 

 20 miles), passing many farms and one or two 

 small villages on the way, and finally arrived at 

 Pi-ch'ien-ch'i, a large market village. There we 

 put up for the night in a fairly good inn. 



Next day it was raining when we rose, and we 

 were delayed till noon, when we once more set 

 out, this time in a more northerly direction. The 

 poor camels had a terrible time, as they slipped 

 and floundered about in the mud. They cried 

 piteously whenever they came to a bad part, and 



122 



