vised a way to
catch the fish which brought us food, although it would have made a
sportsman shiver. They built a dam of stones across the stream and
one man waded slowly along, beating the water with a branch to drive
the trout out of the pools into the ripples; then we dashed into the
water and tried to catch them with our hands. At least a dozen got
away but we secured three by cornering them among the rocks.

They were huge trout, nearly three feet long. Unfortunately I was
not able to preserve any of them and I do not know what species they
represented. The Mongols and Chinese often catch the same fish in
the Tola River by means of nets and we sometimes bought them in
Urga. One, which we put on the scales, weighed nine pounds. Although
Ted MacCallie tried to catch them with a fly at Urga he never had
any success but they probably would take live bait.

August 20 was our second day in camp. At dawn I was awakened by the
patter of rain on the tent and soon it became a steady downpour.
There was no use in hunting and I went back to sleep. At seven
o'clock Chen, who was fussing about the fire, rushed over to say
that he could see two wapiti on the opposite mountain. Yvette and I
scrambled out of our sleeping bags just in time to see a doe and a
fawn silhouetted against the sky rim as they disappeared over the
crest. Half an hour later they returned, and I tried a stalk but I
lost them in the fog and rain. Tserin Dorchy believed that the
animals had gone into a patch of forest on the other side of the
mountain. We tried to drive them out but the only thing that
appeared was a four-year-old roebuck which the Mongol killed with a
single shot.

[Illustration: Wrestlers at Terelche Valley Field Meet]

[Illustration: Women Spectators at the Field Meet]

We had ridden up the mountain by zigzagging across the slope, but
when we started back I was astounded to see Tserin Dorchy keep to
his saddle. The wet grass was so slippery that I could not even
stand erect and half the time was sliding on my back, while Kublai
Khan picked his way carefully down the steep descent. The Mongol
never left his horse till we reached camp. Sometimes he even urged
the pony to a trot and, moreover, had the roebuck strapped behind
his saddle. I would not have ridden down that mountain side for all
the deer in Mongolia!

It had begun to rain in earnest by eleven o'clock, and we spent a
quiet afternoon. There is a charm about a rainy day when o