DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY 201 



amnion. Exploring these valleys would take some days, 

 and I do not think the sport would repay the time and 

 trouble. 



(5) There are several small valleys running into the 

 main valley from the range of mountains on the south. 

 None of these is more than five miles in length nor one 

 mile in breadth, and are good finds for Ovis amnion, 

 provided they have not been too much disturbed. These 

 nalas are so small that the animals are soon frightened 

 away when there has been any shooting. In former years, 

 wild yaks, too, were found here, and a few were shot, but 

 now these animals appear to have given up visiting this 

 portion of the valley, owing probably to the increasing 

 number of sportsmen, who seem to visit the Silungs more 

 frequently than other parts. Between Kiam and Pamzal 

 there is no shooting ground to speak of ; the last is the 

 valley leading down the Chang-chen-mo Pass (Marsemik-la) 

 to Pamzal, about twenty miles. Ovis ainmon will be 

 found along this route early or late in the season, when 

 there is good grass. 



The mountains which surround the valley of the " Great 

 Eiver" have a nearly uniform height of 20,000 feet; near 

 the head of Gograng only do they exceed that figure by a 

 few hundreds. The passes range from 18,000 to 19,000 

 feet, and, as the level of the valley may be between 15,000 

 and 16,000 feet, the sportsman has no great heights 

 to climb. Experience will soon teach him, nevertheless, 

 that going up hill at these altitudes entails uncommonly 

 hard work on the lunos. His Ladakhi followers will set a 

 good example, for they take things easily. What sport 

 one obtains depends, as I think you have discovered now, 

 on the weather. Few situations more cruelly tax one's 

 patience than having to sit or lie in the small tent, and 

 listen to the Tibetan gale tearing at the ropes, while the 



