16 



WILD SHEEP. 



increasingly sacred to him. That head becomes a fetish, and all his life 

 his heart will beat quicker and the hot blood go surging through his 

 being, as he recalls the memory of those days of toil, hours of almost 

 agonized stalking and that final supreme age-long moment of suspense > 

 as he took aim, jiressed the trigger and awaited the result of his death- 

 messenger. And who can describe the agony, the ten-ible stinging 

 regret, that must last a lifetime, when that proud head, held high as 

 ever, is bom swiftly away and away never more to be seen except in 

 bitter memory? That is sheep hunting. 



To the Pamirs, to the Rocky jNIountains, to the Himalayas and 

 the Altai, men have gone in search of wild sheep, the wariest of all 

 game. Through privation, hardship, toil and exposure they have 

 attained their ambitions, and many a fine head, gracing a stately hall, 

 tells the storv of their endeavours. 



It has fallen to tlie lot of but few Europeans to shoot the wild 

 sheep of North China. The animal itself is undoubtedly the rarest oi 

 its kind inhabiting but a few isolated areas. It is being driven out by 

 the great northward flow of Chinese settlers, that is also driving back 

 the Mongols. 



It is mercilessly hunted by the natives, while there have been 

 Europeans who have not been above taking unreasonably heavy toll 

 from its fast diminishing numbers. One man, has gone so far as to 



