Game Animals of India, etc. 



and branch valleys, which are well wooded, though 

 they are probably more plentiful in some of the 

 northern Bhutanese valleys. 



" After leaving the Chumbi Valley these deer are 

 not again encountered until the Tsangpo or Bramaputra 

 Valley is reached, where there are some herds of them 

 in a valley to the north of the Kamba Pass, which were 

 said to be protected by the Dalai Lama, and were 

 consequently unmolested. They also inhabit the 

 high mountains on both sides of the Bramaputra for 

 many miles to the east, probably as far as the unex- 

 plored Bramaputra Falls. I next definitely heard of 

 them existing in the bare hills to the north-east of 

 Lhasa, and was told that they were occasionally seen 

 and killed some few miles from that city. 



" During the seven weeks we spent at Lhasa 1 was 

 fortunate enough to procure two very fine shou or 

 ' shaow ' heads, which I purchased from some natives, 

 who said they were shot about forty miles east of Lhasa 

 up the Khichu Valley, and as they had the flesh and 

 skin on them intact, they could not have been brought 

 from very far. Unfortunately these heads had been 

 decapitated close to the skull, but I was able to bring 

 them to England. They both measure close on 50 in. 

 one having thirteen points, the other the normal ten. 

 I may also mention that I saw three or four heads with 

 more than ten points, so that the accepted idea that 

 this deer never carries more than ten points is not 

 borne out by fact, though ten is undoubtedly the 

 normal number. This deer was also said to exist in 

 the Kham country, which is some way to the east 

 of Lhasa." 



If these Lhasa shou are completely isolated from 

 the typical Chumbi-Bhutan animals, they probably 

 indicate a distinct race of the species. 



220 



