o 



12 A MARCH IN TIBET 



shoot, as they seemed all ewes ; but as soon as the flock 

 reached the sky-line, to my surprise the animals seemed 

 all rams ! I promptly opened fire at about 200 yards, 

 and the first shot brought down a splendid fellow hit 

 through the shoulder— he collapsed on the ridge ; the 

 second shot hit a small ram in the hind ribs, and he went 

 away to the right, very sick ; the third and fourth shots 

 were misses. All this firing did not seem to hurry the 

 animals much — they went slowly along the ridge, still 

 in sight. The fifth shot brought down another ram, the 

 distance being not less than 300 yards; the sixth missed, 

 and I ceased firing — three hits and three misses. I sent 

 coolies to bring down the game, but, fatal mistake ! a knife 

 was put into the hands of one of them for the halal. 

 Strict injunctions were given to cut the throats low down, 

 but in their excitement the Baltis gashed the necks from 

 ear to ear, thus ruining the heads for setting up. While 

 the coolies were bringing down the sheep, I asked Tandiip 

 how far we were from our camping-place — Puling Siimdo ; 

 he pointed to the ground we stood on, saying this was the 

 place ; so I had made this bag of three rams actually in 

 camp. Literally in camp, for the tent was pitched over 

 the tracks the flock made in their flight up the hillside. 

 Such is the luck of shikar. I had been breaking my heart 

 — and risking my neck — in the pursuit of rams for the 

 last month without bagging a single animal ; and here, at 

 a turn in the road, I shot down three. The horns of the 

 first ram were 23 inches round the curve, and 11| inches 

 girth at base. Second ram 17 inches by 11 inches. The 

 smallest ram was not recovered at the time. The third 

 one was hit just above the root of the tail as he was 

 climbing up, and never moved from the spot ; his spine 

 was smashed, and he must have died instantaneously. 

 I halted here, as Tandup and his companion objected to 



