Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 92 (Color Image)

0092	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

62 PEKING TO LHASA

determined to try new hunting grounds and new

hunters.

His third hunting trip he made on October 20,

this time seeking takin. He started northward

up the Tsao-shan and pitched his tent that night,

just before heavy rain came on, at a height of

9400 feet. Continuing his climb the next day

by a very rough uneven trail, through woods and

deep undergrowth and along a razor-shaped ridge,

he reached a ledge at 12,230 feet where he spent

the night. And now at last he had the first

signs of pandar some droppings. And he sent

his hunters out to track it.

Starting in thick mist and rain on the following

day, he had an awful descent down an exception-

ally steep and rocky hill affording very little

foothold. He then had to wade through dense

soaking bamboo. But after 4 miles of this very

rough going he reached a shanty, and beyond it

met with two grass-cutters who stated that six

days before, whilst they were at work, a pandar

had entered the shanty and eaten their food.

Hope revived in Pereira. He was evidently in

the place for hunting, and before the end of the

day he came across traces of pandar, takin and

serow. But the Chinese hunters disappeared and

all Pereira was able to shoot and it was with the

first shot he fired with his rifle that year was a

hill cat (shan-mao), a beautiful little animal with

black legs and belly, dark brown back, a long

bushy tail, and a white mark on the face. He is

known as the small pandar. He measured 504

inches from the tip of the nose to the end of

the tail. The tail was 22 inches long, the legs

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