Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/285

 soon became so wild that even the robbers could not capture them for their own use. After the departure of the Dungans the wild animals remained at liberty, and they now chiefly frequent the bushes in the valley of the Hoang-ho, where there is abundance of water and good pasturage for them.

Wild cattle are generally met in small herds of five to fifteen, only the old bulls going single. It is strange how soon they return to all their wild habits notwithstanding their long domestication. The cows lie in the thickets all day, apparently hiding from man, but at twilight they come out to graze. On seeing or scenting a man, bulls and cows take to flight and never stop till they have gone a long way. The wildest and most intractable among them are, of course, the young ones, born and reared in a state of nature.

The chase of wild cattle is so difficult that during the whole of our stay at Ordos we only shot four bulls. The Mongols never take part in this chase, owing to their fear of entering Ordos, and also because these powerful animals do not feel the wound inflicted by the shot from an old flint-and-steel musket, which usually consists of a piece of cast-iron or a stone covered with lead. By beating the bushes, especially in winter, great numbers of these animals might be slain; the Mongols reckon their numbers in Ordos to be upwards of 2,000 head. Doubtless these cattle will all be exterminated in the course of time, or recaptured by the same Mongols who are now returning to Ordos. It might be otherwise