Ferdinand Ossendowski Beasts, Men And Gods

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of the Mongolian pattern. We asked ourselves what had happened to him.
Our Mongol bowed his head in anxiety and said in hushed but assured tones: "It
is the vengeance of Jagasstai. The rider did not make sacrifice at the southern
obo and the demon has strangled him and his horse."
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Beasts, Men and Gods, by Ferdinand Ossendowski
At last Tarbagatai was behind us. Before us lay the valley of the Adair. It was a
narrow zigzagging plain following along the river bed between close mountain
ranges and covered with a rich grass. It was cut into two parts by the road along
which the prostrate telegraph poles now lay, as the stumps of varying heights and
long stretches of wire completed the debris. This destruction of the telegraph line
between Irkutsk and Uliassutai was necessary and incident to the aggressive
Chinese policy in Mongolia.
Soon we began to meet large herds of sheep, which were digging through the
snow to the dry but very nutritious grass. In some places yaks and oxen were
seen on the high slopes of the mountains. Only once, however, did we see a
shepherd, for all of them, spying us first, had made off to the mountains or hidden
in the ravines. We did not even discover any yurtas along the way. The Mongols
had also concealed all their movable homes in the folds of the mountains out of
sight and away from the reach of the strong winds. Nomads are very skilful in
choosing the places for their winter dwellings. I had often in winter visited the
Mongolian yurtas set in such sheltered places that, as I came off the windy plains,
I felt as though I were in a conservatory. Once we came up to a big herd of sheep.
But as we approached most of the herd gradually withdrew, leaving one part that
remained unmoved as the other worked off across the plains. From this section
soon about thirty of forty head emerged and went scrambling and leaping right up
the mountain side. I took up my glasses and began to observe them. The part of
the herd that remained behind were common sheep; the large section that had
drawn off over the plain were Mongolian antelopes (gazella gutturosa); while the
few that had taken to the mountain were the big horned sheep (ovis argali). All
this company had been grazing together with the domestic sheep on the plains of
the Adair, which attracted them with its good grass and clear water. In many
places the river was not frozen and in some places I saw great clouds of steam
over the surface of the open water. In the meantime some of the antelopes and
the mountain sheep began looking at us.
"Now they will soon begin to cross our trail," laughed the Mongol; "very funny
beasts. Sometimes the antelopes course for miles in their endeavor to outrun and
cross in front of our horses and then, when they have done so, go loping quietly
off."
I had already seen this strategy of the antelopes and I decided to make use of it
for the purpose of the hunt. We organized our chase in the following manner. We
let one Mongol with the pack camel proceed as we had been traveling and the
other three of us spread out like a fan headed toward the herd on the right of our
true course. The herd stopped and looked about puzzled, for their etiquette
required that they should cross the path of all four of these riders at once.
Confusion began. They counted about three thousand heads. All this army began
to run from one side to another but without forming any distinct groups. Whole
squadrons of them ran before us and then, noticing another rider, came coursing
back and made anew the same manoeuvre. One group of about fifty head rushed
in two rows toward my point. When they were about a hundred and fifty paces
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Beasts, Men and Gods, by Ferdinand Ossendowski
away I shouted and fired. They stopped at once and began to whirl round in one
spot, running into one another and even jumping over one another. Their panic
cost them dear, for I had time to shoot four times to bring down two beautiful
heads. My friend was even more fortunate than I, for he shot only once into the
herd as it rushed past him in parallel lines and dropped two with the same bullet.
Meanwhile the argali had gone farther up the mountainside and taken stand there
in a row like so many soldiers, turning to gaze at us. Even at this distance I could
clearly distinguish their muscular bodies with their majestic heads and stalwart
horns. Picking up our prey, we overtook the Mongol who had gone on ahead and
continued our way. In many places we came across the carcasses of sheep with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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