they hold that mountainous and wild country which stretches from the Jaxartes to Lake Balkash and Semiretchinsk. Wolves, foxes, badgers, wild goats, and grey hares are to be found in abundance in the country specified, and in the province of Ferghana deer are so numerous that he compares it to "an English park." The large Maral stag is to be found in herds. of several hundreds. Water-fowl, herons, cranes, ibises, wild geese, swans, and a bird resembling a flamingo are also to be met with in immense quantities round Issik Kul and along the Syr Darya and its affluents. Bears are to be found in the rocky country, and a tame kind of gazelle, which is, however, never to be seen in greater numbers than five or six at a time.

The Zarafshan valley east of Samarcand is the haunt of wolves, lynxes, foxes, etc. etc.; and eagles and vultures are frequently to be seen. But on the whole the wolves are of a cowardly race, and the Kirghiz hunter does not hesitate to attack them single-handed and armed only with a heavy riding-whip, which is made of wire woven into the lash. With regard to the Central Asian tiger, which M. de Ujfalvy states, on what authority we know not, to be larger than the Indian tiger, and particularly fierce, it seems to be an animal which is gradually disappearing. Twenty-five years ago, when the Russians were first advancing along the Syr Darya, the marshes on the banks of that river swarmed with them, but from this quarter of the country they have been expelled by the encroachments of man. They are still found in limited. numbers along the banks of the Chu river and on the

shores of Lake Balkash. When Prince Dolgorouki was sent in 1876 to inspect the Central Asian forces, however, he was unable to discover a single specimen of this formidable animal; but the stories of its existence are too recent and too well authenticated to admit of any doubt as to its being a literal fact that there was such an animal, even if there is none still surviving, as the Central Asian tiger. Its size has, however, in all probability been exaggerated. The Russian authorities have offered a reward of ten roubles to the slayer of each tiger, and the skin generally fetches double that amount; so that it is probable that the tiger is gradually being exterminated.

The Kirghiz, who, as we have said, are the best hunters in Turkestan, are capital riders and possess horses which are not easily to be surpassed in the qualities of endurance and speed. The chiefs possess a very fine breed of Turcoman horse, which is believed to be an Arab breed with some English blood in its veins. It is longer-legged than the pure Arab, and is known as argamak. It comes from the Turcoman country. As this horse is very scarce and dear, it is not surprising to learn that it is only possessed by some of the wealthier of the Kirghiz chiefs. The indigenous Kirghiz horse is small and mean in its appearance; but it must not be condemned from appearance alone, for it is capable of enduring great and sustained fatigue, and can put up with the most meagre accommodation and the most irregular diet. The karabair is a cross of these two; but it possesses the virtues and good qualities of neither.

The Kirghiz dog, called tazi, is akin to a greyhound. It is intelligent, bold, and remarkably swift of foot. Among the Galtchas and the people of Pamir another dog, called gurdja, a species of basset with pointed ears, is to be met with. It is strong and intelligent, particularly in finding the track on mountains covered with snow or ice; but all attempts to take it out of its native haunts have failed, and even the short journey to Samarcand inspires it with an irresistible longing to return. M. de Ujfalvy has succeeded in bringing back to Paris three specimens of the tazi, which may be seen in the Jardin d'Acclimatation. It would have been as cruel as it would have been useless to have attempted the same task with the gurdja.

The journey of M. Gregor N. Potanin through the Altai mountains in the autumn of 1876 is too interesting to be passed over in silence. Travelling from the post of Zaissan in Kuldja he reached Bulun-tokhoi in seventeen days, travelling along a new carriage road that has been constructed leading to the valley north of the Saur mountains. Beyond the post of Buluntokhoi, which was held by a sotnia of cossacks, the traveller followed the eastern shore of Lake Ulyungur, crossing the deep and rapid Black Irtysh at Durbeljin in a ferry-boat. A month after he set out from Zaissan he arrived on the banks of the river Kran at a point about eight miles from the Chinese city of Tulta. The heat had been very intense during the march, and the annoyance from flies was extreme; but on reaching the Kran more temperate weather was encountered. In fact the nights were cold, as hoar frosts

had set in; and most of the corn had already been harvested. The valley of the Kran is singularly fertile, and from the Phara-sumè monastery down to the town of Balbagai, a distance of about ten miles, the fields are in a high state of cultivation under the care of the native population, who are chiefly Eleuths and Kirghiz. It is the granary of the Eastern Ektag Altai, and the Kirghiz from as far away as Kobdo come hither to purchase their corn. Poppies are also sown to a great extent, and opium is exported to Kobdo and Buluntokhoi. While staying on the banks of the Kran, M. Potanin resolved to pay a visit to the lamasery of Phara-sume, where a lama known as the Tsagangygen resided, and where he expected to obtain both a guide and general information concerning the country and the people. But the Chinese authorities were inimical to the advent of strangers here, as elsewhere, and they stirred up the people to acts of a semi-hostile nature. So that when M. Potanin appeared on the road leading to Phara-sumè he was on the first occasion met by a body of men who said it was too late that day to visit the Tsagan-gygen; and when M. Potanin returned the next day he was met by shouts of arjur, "be off!" from the townspeople. An excuse was then discovered for placing him under arrest, and during the one night of enforced residence in Phara-sumè he had to accept the hospitality of a lama.

Now, it is given on the authority of numerous travellers in all parts of China, and on the particular authority of one gentleman who has travelled across

North-west China, that the ordinary lama is a thoroughly good fellow and boon companion. Not free from much of that self-esteem which attaches to the priestly office all the world over, he is yet far above those prejudices and ignorances which make the mass of Chinamen, in their unreasoning antipathy to everything that is foreign and unknown to them, the playthings and the tools of an intriguing official class and of a nervous, dominant caste. M. Potanin's host was true to his cloth, and through his loquacity as well as by his hospitality served to while away the time pleasantly enough for the Russian traveller. The tea and mutton with which he regaled his visitor were admirable in their way, and although he declined to participate in the meal, which he declared was provided at the expense of the Bogdo Khan (the Emperor of China), he enlivened it with his presence and his bonhomie. M. Potanin does not attempt to relieve the curiosity we feel to be admitted into some of the mysteries of lamadom, nor does he in any way seek to throw light on the manner in which the Chinese have succeeded in maintaining their authority for centuries in this far-off corner of the empire. For a reply to these highly interesting political questions we must still await the advent of some gifted traveller. The next day M. Potanin was taken before the governor, whom he found seated on a bench in a small room, with four soldiers wearing yellow jackets at his side. He was forthwith accused of having entered a peaceable town with arms in his hands, and of having committed sacrilege by approaching a temple. After some delay, and an evident desire on the part of