Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/275

Rh, or examine it more closely, for fear of exciting suspicion.

In the following spring, as we were returning from Koko-nor to Chobsen, one morning, on the borders of a forest in Kan-su, we saw one of these bears wild and engaged in catching alpine hares. We went towards it; but it made off, and although pursued by our dogs, never turned to bay. We fired several long shots after the bear, but only wounded it, and to our extreme regret it got off.

The one we saw in Koko-nor, as far as we could judge in the distance, was of the same colour as the stuffed specimen we had seen at the temple, but rather larger, and about equal in size to our flesh-eater; it seemed to have an unusual long body, and a kind of hump on its back.

The Mongols told us that they were plentiful on the Burkhan Buddha and Shuga ranges, where they inhabit the rocky parts, in summer, however, descending to the plains; and said they had even been seen on the banks of the Murui-ussu.

After passing the latter part of May in the central forest belt, we descended to the valley of the Tatung, and remained there a week, making daily shooting excursions as before; but our supply of small shot was soon expended, and we had to give up shooting small birds. Of eggs we obtained but a few; many of the birds not having begun to lay,