THE "HORSE-DEER" OF SHANSI 



had seen four standing on the hillside. Two had ant- 

 lers as long as that stick, but they were no good now 

 — ^the horns were hard — ^we should have come in the 

 spring when they were soft. Then each pair was worth 

 $150, at least, and big ones even more. The doctors 

 make wonderful medicine from the horns — only a lit- 

 tle of it would cure any disease no matter how bad it 

 was. They themselves could not get the ma-lu, for the 

 soldiers had long since taken away all their guns, but 

 they would show us where they were. 



It was pleasant to hear all this, for we wanted some 

 of those wapiti very badly, indeed. It is one of the 

 links in the chain of evidence connecting the animals 

 of the Old World and the New — the problem which 

 makes Asia the most fascinating hunting ground of all 

 the earth. 



When the early settlers first penetrated the forests 

 of America they found the great deer which the In- 

 dians called "wapiti." It was supposed for many years 

 that it inhabited only America, but not long ago similar 

 deer were discovered in China, Manchuria, Korea, Mon- 

 golia, Siberia, and Turkestan, where undoubtedly the 

 American species originated. Its white discoverers er- 

 roneously named the animal "elk," but as this title 

 properly belongs to the European "moose," sportsmen 

 have adopted the Indian name "wapiti" to avoid con- 

 fusion. Of course, changed environment developed 

 diflPerent "species" in all the animals which migrated 

 from Asia either to Europe or America, but their re- 

 lationships are very close, indeed. 



