146 FROM YARKAND TO AKSU. 



After wandering about I caught sight of some- 

 thing moving in the grass, and with the aid of the 

 glass made it out to be a jeran, but a doe : how- 

 ever, as I wanted a specimen for the skin, I set 

 to work to stalk it no easy matter, their senses 

 being wonderfully keen. The grass getting too 

 short to cover me, I put up the 200 sight of my 

 rifle and took a careful steady shot : the bullet 

 told, and after turning a couple of somersaults 

 the jeran lay still. It was a full-grown doe, in 

 actual size not much bigger than the gazelle of 

 India, but the length and thickness of its coat 

 made it appear larger. In colour it was lighter 

 than that animal, the hair very soft and thick, 

 with an undercoat still finer, like the pus km of 

 the goa or gazelle of Thibet. 



After " halaling " and taking out the paunch, 

 we hung the body on a tree, to pick up on our 

 way back. We tried a "ruk" of high grass, 

 where, the shikari said, the stags lay in the day- 

 time ; but soon found that, unless by the merest 

 fluke in the world, a shot was out of the question, 

 the grass being in many places above my head. 

 It would have been a grand jungle to beat with 

 a line of elephants. We tried forming a line of 

 three, with 5o-yard intervals. Just near the end 



