Note 8 — Chapter LI · LAKE KHANKA TO THE COAST.

How long this abundance of game will last is an interesting problem, for it is a well-known fact, says M. Réclus, that the distribution of animals over Siberia has been markedly affected by the advent of Russian hunters. The region of the reindeer, for instance, ought to impinge upon that of the camel; and the reindeer used to be found on the mountains of Southern Siberia, but it now runs wild only in the low forests and tundras of the north. The argali, or wild sheep, is no longer found in the plains and mountains of Siberia, as it was in the last century, but has fled southwards into Mongolia. The antelopes and wild horses, driven from the steppes of the Gobi by cold and lack of pasture, descend in troops in autumn towards the plains of Siberia, followed by tigers and wolves, and hunted by men; and the slaughter lasts till the spring allows their return to the solitudes of Mongolia. Neither animals nor birds need a map to show them the frontier of the two countries. It has been remarked that the same birds which permit a stranger to approach them without fear in Mongolia, flee in terror at the least noise on Siberian soil. Especially is this the case with water-fowl, for the Mongols never allow birds to be shot upon the sacred element, believing that, if the blood of a bird mixes with the water, the flocks that drink it will speedily die.