Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/175

 the summer residence of the Emperor. These forests used formerly to be strictly preserved for the Imperial chase, but the death of Kia-king in 1820 while hunting put a stop to this amusement. Notwithstanding the foresters placed there to protect it, the timber is undergoing wholesale destruction and judging from what we saw, hardly a good-sized tree remained, the number of stumps evidencing recent and extensive fellings.

The only animal we found was the pygarg (Cervus pygargus); the natives, however, asserted that there were roe-deer and tigers. Pheasants (Phasianus torquatus), partridges (Perdix barbata, P. chukar), and rock-doves (Columba rupestris) were plentiful; woodpeckers (Picus sp.), buntings (Emberiza ciodes?) and Pterorhinus Davidii more scarce. The ornithology was not very varied, perhaps because the season was not far enough advanced for the migratory birds.

This border district forms part of the circuit of Chen-tu-fu, and belongs to the province of Chihli. Although outside the Great Wall, i.e. beyond the boundary of China Proper, its inhabitants are exclusively Chinese, not a single Mongol being found among them. The valleys are covered with villages or detached farm-houses, surrounded by cultivated