PEAK-BACiGING IN THE ALTAI 195 



good fortune to revisit the place. Yet with all that 

 he was thin and wiry. > 



We took a photograph of the horns of the ibex we 

 had shot, and measured them. My own trophies 

 were: — a large horn 42 inches long and 10 inches 

 thick ; another horn 25 inches long and 8 inches 

 thick ; and a third 23 inches long and 7 inches 

 thick. This last is not so large as those of two others 

 shot by my interpreter. 



The horns of the ibex are sold by the Kalmucks to 

 the Chinese, who grind them to powder and make 

 medicine of them. For this reason the Chinese are 

 their best customers. The southern and western 

 slopes of the Altai range, which are hunted by the 

 Mongolians, are becoming exhausted, the animals 

 being steadily driven to the more remote valleys 

 and secluded gorges, similar to the spot where we 

 had made our bag. The Kalmuck informed us that 

 the horns of some of the ibex he had shot were much 

 larger than the largest secured by me. Evidently the 

 hunter, like the fisherman, is the same all the world 

 over. If that is not the case, however, the ibex in 

 question must have been larger than any of which 

 there is an authentic record, which were not more 

 than three or four inches longer in the horns than 

 the one secured by me. It is to be hoped that some 

 English sportsman may be induced to visit the locality 

 and find out for himself what those mountain valleys 

 and ridges have to offer. I am convinced that the 

 sport he will have will repay him for the trouble of 

 the journey. 



