or America, but their relationships are very close, indeed.

The particular wapiti which we hoped to get at Wu-tai-hai
represented a species almost extinct in China. Because of relentless
persecution when the antlers are growing and in the "velvet" and
continual cutting of the forests only a few individuals remain in
this remote corner of northern Shansi Province. These will soon all
be killed, for the railroad is being extended to within a few miles
of their last stronghold, and sportsmen will flock to the hills from
the treaty ports of China.

Our first hunt was on November first. We left camp by a short cut
behind the village and descended to the bowlder-strewn bed of the
creek which led into a tremendous gorge. We felt very small and
helpless as our eyes traveled up the well-nigh vertical walls to the
ragged edge of the chasm a thousand feet above us. The mightiness of
it all was vaguely depressing, and it was with a distinct feeling of
relief that we saw the canyon widen suddenly into a gigantic
amphitheater. In its very center, rising from a ragged granite
pedestal, a pinnacle of rock, crowned by a tiny temple, shot into
the air. It was three hundred feet, at least, from the stream bed to
the summit of the spire--and what a colossal task it must have been
to transport the building materials for the temple up the sheer
sides of rock! The valley sinners must gain much merit from the
danger and effort involved in climbing there to worship.

Farther on we passed two villages and then turned off to the right
up a tributary valley. We were anxiously looking for signs of
forest, but the only possible cover was in a few ravines where a
sparse growth of birch and poplar bushes, not more than six or eight
feet high, grew on the north slope. Moreover, we could see that the
valley ended in open rolling uplands.

[Illustration: The Head of the Record Ram]

[Illustration: Map of Mongolia and China, Showing Route of Second
Asiatic Expedition in Broken Lines]

Turning to Na-mon-gin, I said, "How much farther are the _ma-lu_?"
"Here," he answered. "We have already arrived. They are in the
bushes on the mountain side."

Caldwell and I were astounded. The idea of looking for wapiti in
such a place seemed too absurd! There was hardly enough cover
successfully to conceal a rabbit, to say nothing of an animal as
large as a horse. Nevertheless, the hunters assured us that the
_ma-lu_ were there, and we began to take a new inter