ZOOLOOT AISTD BOTAKT OF THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS. 29 



j^gatcli, where the Chinese and Russian traders formerlj^ met 

 for purposes of barter, and a small Russian custom-house is 

 maintained here, whose superintendent was the only Eussian 

 official we saw anywhere beyond Ougodai. 



Large numbers of horses and camels and a few sheep and 

 yaks are pastured in the Tchuja valley. The yaks that I i-aAV 

 appeared to be larger and of a finer breed than those I have seen 

 in the Himalayas. The camels were all of the double-humped 

 Asiatic variet3\ 



Having reached Kuch Agatch, we got a fresh lot of horses 

 and Tartars to go into the mountains lying south of the Tchuja 

 Steppe, where we expected to find the great "Wild Sheep {Ovis 

 ammon, Linn.), some of whose heads I now exhibit. This is the 

 finest and largest wild sheep in the world, although its horns are 

 not equal in spread to those of Ovis Poli of the Pamir. 



Another animal whose acquaintance I specially wished to make 

 was the great Stag of the Altai, known in Asia as the Maral. 



As Mr. Lydekker, when preparing his recently published work 

 on the Cervidce, had not sufficient material to enable him to 

 decide as to the species of Cervus foimd in Siberia, I have, with 

 the kind aid of the Duke of Bedford, brought here for exhibition 

 several heads and horns which are of scientific value ; for I believe 

 hardly any from Siberia have hitherto been seen in England, and 

 some of them w^ould be well worth figuring. First, I shovv three 

 heads of so-called Cervus euste-plianus of Blanford; a species which 

 was described by him from shed horns from the Thian-ahan moun- 

 tains, and is well figured by Mr. Lydekker * from a living speei- 

 meu in the Duke of Bedford's menagerie, the original painting 

 of which His Grrace has lent me for exhibition. Though smaller 

 than the "Wapiti, it is a much larger animal than Cervus maral 

 from North Persia, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor, which is rightly, 

 I think, regarded by Mr. Lydekker as an Eastern race of Cervus 

 elaphiis, A head (fig. 1) which was brought by Eegel from the 

 Thian-shan mts., though not a large one, is typical in character of 

 this species ; whilst the other two (figs. 2 & 3), which I procured 

 in the. Altai, are not so typical, and, as I thought at first, had 

 more resemblance to the horns of the European Eed Deer. 

 Mr. Blanford, however, has convinced me that they are nearer 

 in character to those of Cervus eustepJianus. This species has 



* ' Deer of all Lands,' 18? 8, pi. vi. p. 105. 



