200 THE WAPITI OF KANSU 



therein lies their sole safeguard, for minus their 

 horns their commercial value is small. So soon, 

 however, as the new horns have attained a respect- 

 able length the hunters are again hot in pursuit, 

 and far from wondering at the comparative paucity 

 of their numbers it is a matter of astonishment 

 that they have not been totally exterminated long 

 since. No deer that I have ever met with has so 

 hard a time, for in no other country are a deer's 

 horns, when in the velvet, of any substantial com- 

 mercial value. They therefore, even in the absence 

 of game regulations, have rest for a considerable, if 

 not a greater portion of the year. 



The natives of a district abounding in game 

 seldom, as a general rule, produce any appreciable 

 effect on its numbers. Their methods of destruc- 

 tion are too primitive, and the incentive to hunt is 

 confined to the necessities of food and clothing. 



Given, however, a race of hunters (and nearly 

 every man on the Thibetan border possesses a gun), 

 plus a powerful motive for the killing of game, and 

 its annihilation becomes inevitable. It may take 

 generations some exotic factor such as the impor- 

 tation of modern rifles may hasten it within an 

 inconceivably short period but that it will sooner 

 or later disappear, unless the evil is checked 

 by drastic reforms, is as certain as the setting of 

 the sun. 



Time is a matter of no consideration to the 

 native hunter. He takes his gun, his coat, and a 

 handful of food, finds his game, sleeps anywhere, 

 and eventually bags his beast. It is pitiable, but it 

 is inevitable. 



No sympathy can be felt for the educated and 



