Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/63

44 Yulduz is very rich in mammalia; of the larger animals there are brown and tawny bears, Ovis Poli, wild goat, and what are more remarkable, considering the absence of trees, deer and pygargs; numbers of marmot hybernate as early as the middle of September, when they frequently become the prey of the bear, who grubs up their burrows, and extracts from them the half-dormant little animals. Wolves are very common, and foxes particularly so; the latter prey on the innumerable field-mice. Amongst others of the rodent order, Siberian marmot are plentiful, but they were also hybernating, and wild boar are occasionally found in the marshes of the Baga Yulduz-gol.

There are absolutely no inhabitants in either Yulduz, although not above eleven years ago Turgutes lived here to the number of ten thousand kebitkas. Plundered by the Dungans, these nomads retired, partly to Shikho, and partly to the Kaidu-gol to the neighbourhood of Kara-shahr; while some escaped to our lines on the Ili, where they are living at the present day.

Our entrance into Yulduz was marked by an unfortunate incident. My companion Lieut. Povalo-Schweikofsky, who from the very first was unable to support the hardships of travel, fell ill, and as he did not recover, was obliged to return to his former place of service. Fortunately my other travelling-companion, the volunteer Eklon, proved to be an energetic and willing youth, and