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. 



We 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 



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