NOMADS OF THE FOREST 173 



and I decided that it would be well to ride into Urga 

 and make arrangements for our return to Peking. 



We did the fifty miles with the greatest ease and 

 spent the night with Mamen in Mai-ma-cheng. Next 

 day Mr. and Mrs. MacCallie arrived, much to our de- 

 light. They were to spend the winter in Urga on busi- 

 ness and they brought a supply of much needed am- 

 munition, photographic plates, traps and my Mann- 

 licher rifle. This equipment had been shipped from 

 New York ten months earlier but had only just reached 

 Peking and been released from the Customs through 

 the heroic efforts of Mr. Guptil. 



We had another two weeks' hunting trip before we 

 said good-by to Mongolia but it netted few results. 

 All the valleys, which had been deserted when we were 

 there before, were filled with Mongols cutting hay for 

 the winter feed of their sheep and goats. Of course, 

 every camp was guarded by a dog or two, and their con- 

 tinual barking had driven the moose, elk, and bear far 

 back into the deepest forests where we had no time to 

 foUow. 



Mr. and Mrs. MacCalhe had taken a house in Urga, 

 just opposite the Russian Consulate, and they enter- 

 tained us while I packed our collections which were 

 stored in Andersen, Meyer's godown. It was a full 

 week's work, for we had more than a thousand speci- 

 mens. The forests of Mongolia had jrielded up their 

 treasures as we had not dared to hope they would, and 

 we left them with almost as much regret as we had left 

 the plains. 



