Kobdo and Irtisch rivers. I could also see an immense extent of high down grassy country to the south and east, and high snowy mountains to the north and west. But it was hopeless to get any correct geographic information from the natives when one had no reliable interpreter— Mr. Berezowsky returned from Kuch Agach—and the map was very bad. On the way back I joined the old route from Sock Karaul, the Chinese frontier post, to Kuch Agach, which was deeply marked in the ground though now little used. The frontier was marked by a large pile of stones, but no inscription or post on either side; and I believe the Chinesepost was a day’s ride or more to the south.
On the steep shaly side of a mountain I saw several Tetraogallus altaicus, which went off very wild. Once on the wing they can sail for a very long way without moving the wings, which for such a heavy bird is very re¬ markable. As they fly they utter a sharp call of one note. What such large birds live on, I do not know, but there are plants up to as high as I have been, wherever there is any soil.
In a small valley near our camp I collected at least a hundred species of plants. A very pretty large-flowered bright blue Scutillaria, a bright blue Corydalis, and lots of Primula like Panyi, were the best things. Up the side of the valley it became more rocky, and here, to my great surprise and joy, I caught Parnassius eversmanni, a species only known from Amurland and said to fly in peat-bogs. I saw four and caught three, all fresh out.
On July 13th I got the first letters I had had since leaving Moscow', and two papers, the latest dated May 30th. This was the turning-point for the expedition, and after a few days more of collecting, we started for Kuch Agach on July 19th. We met a lot of Kirghiz who were herding about 700 or 800 horses, on the milk of which, made into kumiss, they largely live. They had no tent and were all young men, rather easy in their manners. Unlike the Tartars we had, they would not touch vodka or tobacco, saying they were Mussulmen. They gave us very good kumiss out of a large leather bag, and offered us sheep cheese pounded into little bits out of a kid-skin bag. They were milking the mares, having tied up the foals first. Some had to be hobbled, some stood to be milked, but all had their foals held by them whilst a boy milked into a leathern bucket. They had two nearly full-grown young falcons, which had been taken from a nest near by on a steep mountain. I could not make out the species; they were too large for Peregrines, and much more the colour of Sakers. The Kirghiz train these falcons to catch foxes, and they say wolves too, but I doubt the latter story.
The hills just north of Kuch Agach were covered with a thick coat of fresh snow, which came within 500 feet of the plain. There were heavy storms of snow and thunder in the hills to the south, which, however, I escaped. When the sun came out a little, the dry plain was at once alive with large locusts, with grey forewings and the underwings black and crimson, about two inches long. The females were unable to fly and hopped about on the ground.
We spent the night of July 26th at Ulaghan, a small village, and next morning went to see the Saisan, or headman, who, though he has a good
