Daren
This is the first of Roy Chapman Andrews' books I have read. This one documents his "Second Asiatic Expedition" 1918-1920 in Mongolia and Northern China.
As the blurb says, the book is written entirely from the sportsman's standpoint and has purposely avoided scientific details which would prove uninteresting or wearisome to the general public.
Andrews makes his way through the narrative with various companions, including his wife who gets credit for the many very good photographs in the book, and towards the end it breaks into chapters of which each is a separate outing, with a range of companions.
Making use of of various modes of transport, including cars, horses and walking and seldom with out a rifle in hand, Andrews collects mammal specimens for the American Museum of Natural History (of which he is the associate curator). While the needs of the museum dictate the animals 'collected' it is obvious that Andrews is also a keen hunter, and along with his companions they take most opportunities to bag their prey. Many of the villages eat well after their outings!
The irony of his suggestion that ...because of unceasing native persecution, lack of protection, the continued destruction of forests and the ever increasing facilities for transportation to the remote districts of the interior, many of China's most interesting and important forms of wild life are doomed to extermination in the very near future... is not lost on the modern reader.
Among those animals collected in the general narrative are antelope, bustards, geese, cranes, gophers, wolves, marmots, wapiti, various deer species (including roebuck and sika, muskdeer) and wild pigs.
At the end there are separate chapters on the great ram of Shanxi, the Mongolian "Argali," the horse-deer of Shanxi, the Wapiti, Roebuck and Goral, wild pigs, and the hunting parks of the eastern tombs.
Within the middle of the book Andrews describes village life in Urga (now Ulan Baatar), including descriptions of Mongolian men and women, their lifestyle and beliefs, lama's and religion.
Other than details of the animal species they were hunting, this book provided an insight into the variety of landscape in Mongolia. Despite having spent 4 weeks in Mongolia myself, I still think of Mongolia as the Gobi Desert, of desert and desert scenery. Andrews visits other parts of Mongolia which are forested and valleys carpeted with flowers, rivers and swamps.
3.5 stars.
This is the first of Roy Chapman Andrews' books I have read. This one documents his "Second Asiatic Expedition" 1918-1920 in Mongolia and Northern China.
As the blurb says, the book is written entirely from the sportsman's standpoint and has purposely avoided scientific details which would prove uninteresting or wearisome to the general public.
Andrews makes his way through the narrative with various companions, including his wife who gets credit for the many very good photographs in the book, and towards the end it breaks into chapters of which each is a separate outing, with a range of companions.
Making use of of various modes of transport, including cars, horses and walking and seldom with out a rifle in hand, Andrews collects mammal specimens for the American Museum of Natural History (of which he is the associate curator). While the needs of the museum dictate the animals 'collected' it is obvious that Andrews is also a keen hunter, and along with his companions they take most opportunities to bag their prey. Many of the villages eat well after their outings!
The irony of his suggestion that ...because of unceasing native persecution, lack of protection, the continued destruction of forests and the ever increasing facilities for transportation to the remote districts of the interior, many of China's most interesting and important forms of wild life are doomed to extermination in the very near future... is not lost on the modern reader.
Among those animals collected in the general narrative are antelope, bustards, geese, cranes, gophers, wolves, marmots, wapiti, various deer species (including roebuck and sika, muskdeer) and wild pigs.
At the end there are separate chapters on the great ram of Shanxi, the Mongolian "Argali," the horse-deer of Shanxi, the Wapiti, Roebuck and Goral, wild pigs, and the hunting parks of the eastern tombs.
Within the middle of the book Andrews describes village life in Urga (now Ulan Baatar), including descriptions of Mongolian men and women, their lifestyle and beliefs, lama's and religion.
Other than details of the animal species they were hunting, this book provided an insight into the variety of landscape in Mongolia. Despite having spent 4 weeks in Mongolia myself, I still think of Mongolia as the Gobi Desert, of desert and desert scenery. Andrews visits other parts of Mongolia which are forested and valleys carpeted with flowers, rivers and swamps.
3.5 stars.