Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/45

Rh 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 en- croachments of man. They are still found in limited numbers along the banks of the Chu river and on the