132 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



house mouse, have their tiny feet enveloped in soft fur, 

 like the slippers of an Eskimo baby. 



As we walked back to camp in the late afternoon, 

 we often saw a kangaroo rat {Alactaga mongolica?) 

 jumping across the plain, and when we had driven it 

 into a hole, we could be sure to catch it in a trap the 

 following morning. They are gentle little creatures, 

 with huge, round eyes, long, delicate ears, and tails 

 tufted at the end like the feathers on an arrow's shaft. 

 The name expresses exactly what they are like — di- 

 minutive kangaroos — but, of course, they are rodents 

 and not marsupials. During the glacial period of the 

 early Pleistocene, about one hundred thousand years 

 ago, we know from fossil remains that there were great 

 invasions into Europe of most of these types of tiny 

 mammals, which we were catching during this delightful 

 summer on the Mongolian plains. 



After two months we regretfully turned back toward 

 Urga. Our summer was to be divided between the 

 plains on the south and the forests to the north of the 

 sacred city, and the first half of the work had been 

 completed. The results had been very satisfactory, and 

 our boxes contained five hundred specimens; but our 

 hearts were sad. The wide sweep of the limitless, 

 grassy sea, the glorious morning rides, and the magic 

 of the starlit nights had filled our blood. Even the 

 liu-e of the unknown forests could not make us glad 

 to go, for the plains had claimed us as their own. 



