194 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



presently came in sight ; this proved to be a young 

 ram. Hoping- that he might be accompanied by others, 

 I decided to approach him. Creeping cautiously below 

 the ridge, in an hour we managed to get within a 

 hundred yards of the place where I had spied him, 

 and on peeping over a protruding ledge discovered 

 him still standing in the same spot. I could plainly 

 distinouish the remnants of his winter coat still clino-- 

 ing in patches to his back and withers. Crawling 

 down to a small mossy knoll, I was over-anxious to 

 oret a shot, and the result was I scored a clean miss at 

 eighty yards ! The ram did not give me a second 

 chance, for he disappeared like lightning round a 

 boulder, and I never saw him again. So far success 

 had not crowned my efforts that day. We returned 

 disappointed to the saddles we had just left, and 

 thence started towards the hioher crao^s of that volcanic 

 ridge, encountering on our way many a "gendarme" 

 round almost vertical rocks, parts of which treacher- 

 ously gave way under my grip. At places it was 

 necessary to advance in a riding position over the 

 narrow ledge, with precipices of several hundred feet 

 on either side of us. 



The aspect of the country beyond, at an elevation 

 of about 5,000 feet, had entirely changed. Odd- 

 shaped rocks of volcanic formation stood out of the 



