HOW WILD ANIMALS ARE CAUGHT 89 
heavy blows instead of coin! This treatment was immedi- 
ately successful, the mutiny calmed down, the ringleaders 
begged for pardon ; and before long the caravan was jogging 
merrily along again, without the desertion of a single man. 
In all, the transportation to Hamburg took eleven months. 
Out of the fifty-two wild horses which had started, twenty- 
eight arrived safely at their journey’s end, where they were 
henceforth placed upon a diet of hulled oats, warm bran and 
carrots. Thus ends the story of how wild horses first came 
to Northern Europe. 
Of all the countries traversed by the animal dealer, none 
present such great difficulties as the vast plains and forests 
of Siberia. The problem has still to be solved as to the 
proper way of transporting wild sheep, ibex, roe, pheasants, 
tigers, wild asses and other dwellers in this region to civil- 
ised countries. The distances which have to be traversed 
are immense; and as a rule there are no roads at all to travel 
on. Food for men and animals has to be carried by the party, 
for it often cannot be obtained by the way; and half the 
animals usually die in transit. A few years ago I equipped 
another expedition, and sent it out to this Kobdo country, to 
obtain some young specimens of the argali or giant wild 
sheep. This I hoped to cross with the larger kinds of our 
domesticated sheep, so as to obtain a breed of giant domestic 
sheep which might be serviceable to farmers. The expedition 
was unsuccessful ; and another which I sent out soon after fared 
no better. More than sixty of the animals were captured, but 
lived only a short time. In the course of the journey home 
every one of them died from diarrhoea. These two fruitless 
expeditions cost no less than £5,000. 
Of all the animals which the dealer endeavours to catch, 
perhaps none are so easy or less dangerous than snakes. In 
fact, snake-hunting might be better described as collecting 
than hunting. In the great marshes of India, the so-called 
Sundarbans, snakes are sought out during the cool season in the 
