200 EXPEDITION TO KALMUK. 



happy by some odds and ends out of my pack 

 of piece - goods. Starting well ahead of the 

 ponies, and rifle in hand, we went in the direc- 

 tion where a shepherd reported having seen a 

 herd of deer with two stags in it. There was 

 very little high timber about, but a great deal 

 of dense high grass in patches, interspersed with 

 hillocks covered with jow or tamarisk. The 

 ground lay low, and was evidently under the in- 

 fluence of floods from the Tarim river, for here 

 and there were lagoons and water-channels ; but 

 as these were frozen over, they did not impede 

 our progress much. 



In places there were patches of open water, 

 ducks and geese were very thick, and every now 

 and then a skein of the latter would fly overhead. 

 Approaching one of these lagoons, with rather 

 more open water than the others, I saw that it 

 was alive with wild-fowl, so determined to crawl 

 up and see what manner of birds they were. I 

 had left my gun for convenience' sake, and they 

 of course allowed me to get quite close to them ; 

 and while looking them carefully over, noting that 

 they consisted of all the species well known in 

 Europe in the way of ducks and grey geese, out 

 from behind a tuft of grass sailed a lovely swan. 



