Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 90 (Color Image)

0090	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

60 PEKING TO LHASA

a blanket and provisions he would sleep under

some rock at night. And he would search all the

day for game. But with the exception of the

fleeting hindquarters of some deer and the tracks

of takin he saw nothing. His only compensation

was the beauty of the scenery. There were rocky

gorges and beautiful cascades and trees with

foliage of every shade of green, red and yellow.

He doubted whether there was any country in

the world where hunting was more difficult and

arduous. The Chinese are not naturally good

hunters. They are restless and fidgety when

waiting for game. And their statements are

unreliable. After countless investigations Pereira

came to the conclusion that the best time for

pandar is from November to March. Then the

snow drives them down from the inaccessible

mountain-tops to the lower slopes where they can

find food. Pereira's hunter had assisted in killing

two or three pandars in five years. Another old

hunter told him that they usually hunted them

in parties of six or seven. Pandar skins are not

as valuable as skins of the takin and serow and so

they are less sought after. These hunters say that

they call in May and their young are born in July ;

that they sleep in tree hollows, the male feeding

on the bamboo stalks and the female on bamboo

leaves. After a takin has been killed the pandars

come and feed on the remains.

After nine days' vain search for game Pereira

returned to his headquarters at Teng-ch'ih-kou.

And on October 11 he started off south-west down

the valley on a second hunting trip. But shortly

he turned off westward up a side valley thinly

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