magnificent region completely abandoned in 1876. Plundered in 1865 by the Moslem Zungarians, the 50,000 Yulduz nomads had been driven, some south-eastwards to Lake Bogla-nor, others north-westwards to the Ili valley. Left thus masters of the wilderness, the wild ruminants have here become very numerous. Among them are the Ovis poli in flocks of thirty to forty, the mountain goat (Capra Sibirica), the maral, a species of deer.* But neither the Ovis karelini, the Oris poli, nor the argali is anywhere met in the Eastern Tian-shan. The wolf, fox, and other beasts of prey are also numerous in this section of the range, which is the exclusive home of the white-clawed bear (Ursus leuconyx).
| Fig. 95.—Routes of Explorers in the Eastern Tian-shan. | |
| Scale 1 : 9,670,000. | |
| |
 Prejvalsky, 1876.
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 Sosnosky, 1874–9.
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 Kuropatkin, 1876–7.
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 Regel, 1876–9.
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 Rafaïlov, 1874.
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 Great Chinese Highway.
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 120 Miles.
| |
According to their aspect, the mean direction of the winds, and amount of rainfall, the slopes of the Eastern Tian-shan present many striking contrasts. The southern and generally more abrupt slopes, being unable to retain much moisture, are nearly all treeless, while the northern are well wooded, the pine flourishing in some places as high as 8,000 feet, the upper limit of arborescent vegetation. On the northern slopes of the Narat, or Nara-tau, running north of the Little Yulduz, the forests on the banks of the Zanma consist almost exclusively of the "Tian-shan pine" and of a species of ash, while the apple, apricot, and other fruit trees abound in the Kunges valley, and in most of the basins north of these mountains.
* Sieverzov tells us that the young horns of the maral, while still filled with blood and not yet hardened, are highly esteemed by the Chinese, who pay from £6 to £20 the pair for them on the Siberian frontier. Hence the maral has always been eagerly chased; and since the wild animal has become rare, the Cossacks of the Kiakhta district have succeeded in domesticating it. Polakoff has recently stated that this industry has become widely diffused in Western Siberia, where tame herds of fifty to seventy head are now to be met. Unfortunately the horns of the domesticated animal have lost many of the qualities for which they are chiefly valued as an article of trade.—Editor.
