UPPER ASIA 
following wounded beasts. It is possible to cover a very large extent of 
country in a day, for one always hunts on horseback. It is an advantage 
to be independent of a return to camp the same day, if it is possible. A 
herd is often found too late in the day to allow a stalk, or a chosen head 
may have been marked down and approach is impossible; on such 
occasions it is exasperating to have to go back five miles to camp, when 
an outfit for a night out would enable the hunter to have the very best 
possible advantage at dawn the next day. 
With any luck at all, heads of 53 inches to 60 inches should be obtained 
by any hard working hunter in this district. The record heads are 
62| inches and 61 \ inches; 56 inches being a good average head. The 
impression of weight given by a pair of ammon horns results from their 
immense thickness, for they are known to run over 20 inches in girth. 
The Altai cannot be said to hold out much prospect of sport besides 
the ammon. There are ibex in the more rugged declivities on the northern 
side; in fact, we have on record a head of 48 inches obtained by Colonel 
C. B. Wood. As a rule, they run small and are nowhere in large herds 
as in the Tian Shan; but their distribution is wide, for they extend from the 
Little Altai, through the Mongolian ranges, right away to the Dungu and 
Gurbun Saikhan range, which lie in the heart of the Gobi Desert to the 
south of Urga. 
The gazelle are more interesting, for they are a feature of the uplands, 
and peculiar to these parts. On the Kosh Agatch steppe the traveller may 
come across the first indication of these highland-loving gazelle, while 
on the Mongolian plateau he is sure to chance on them at some time or 
other. The Mongolian gazelle, Gazella gutturosa, ranges over the higher parts 
of Outer Mongolia, and is generally found at about 8,000 feet altitude in 
summer. In winter they descend to the more sheltered valleys and lake 
basins, such as are to be found scattered over the whole of Mongolia. 
They run in large herds, males and females mixed, and are peculiarly 
easy to drive and out -manoeuvre. 
On the lower portions of the plateau, and in the depressions, one may 
come across the smaller Gazella subgutturosa, and in Southern Mongolia 
the rarer Przewalski’s gazelle is found. 
Apart from the Altai districts, the only portion of Mongolia which is 
likely to attract the attention of the sportsman is the outlying border 
range on the eastern frontier, namely the Khinghan range. This, however, 
would not form a part of a journey to the Altai, but constitutes an altogether 
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