UPPER ASIA 
I. MONGOLIA AND THE RUSSIAN ALTAI 
I N North-Eastern Asia, between the fertile plains of China and the 
great Siberian lowlands, is a great plateau; it is not of the immensely 
high altitude of Tibet, nor possessing the peculiar characteristics of 
the Pamirs, but of more varied character than either. For in the south 
it is very arid desert, in the north it is a wonderful pasture land, 
while from its somewhat featureless surface rise glorious mountain 
groups of great beauty and wonderful scenery. The various grades of 
scenery pass from the horrid depths of the Gobi Desert — which forms the 
southern slope of the plateau — to higher, rolling downlands, where in- 
numerable Mongol shepherds pasture their flocks. Bordering this is an 
encircling ring of mountains which rise above the plateau, and eventually 
drop in successive terraces to the low Siberian plains. Excellent grazing 
country at a high altitude and dense forests on the lower slopes form 
the sporting localities that attract hunters to these far regions; for although 
the great extent of arid country contains big game, the highlands are the 
home of that magnificent beast, the Ovis amnion, a trophy which every 
hunter considers to be one of the finest in the world. 
Of the immense area included under the title of Upper Asia, only a small 
proportion is really game country, worthy of a special expedition for shoot- 
ing purposes. There are vast tracts of land where no living thing exists, 
the shooting grounds are far removed from each other, and each really 
necessitates a separate journey. Besides the Mongolian Plateau, which 
itself holds two distinct hunting grounds — namely the Altai and Khingan 
Mountains — there are those remote haunts of wild sheep, the Kamchatka 
Peninsula and the mountain ranges in North-Eastern Siberia. 
The Altai district of Outer Mongolia and of the Tomsk Province of 
Siberia, however, forms the most important, as well as the most pro- 
ductive hunting centre in Upper Asia. It is a region of great wealth and 
beauty of scenery; a rugged, forested mountain country on the north, 
merging into bleak but well pastured plateau on the south. Through it 
runs the ancient line of demarcation between the Russian and Chinese 
Empires, now somewhat modified by recent changes in Mongolia, and 
the advance of Russian interests in that region. 
The Altai is known to sportsmen chiefly as the home of that gigantic 
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