A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



on the west, right away to China on the east, where 

 Bower, in his book " Across Thibet," tells us that he 

 saw them. Southwards they are to be found 

 within a few marches of Simla and other hill-stations 

 on the southern slope of the main range of the 

 Himalaya. More goat-like in their proclivities than 

 the other Oves, they are seldom to be found far from 

 precipitous ground, to which they betake themselves 

 when alarmed or wounded. In build they differ 

 greatly from the nyan, being stouter and, so to 

 speak, lower, with much shorter and thicker legs. 

 In colour they are a bluish-grey, with a strongly 

 marked medial line, and when lying on a slope of 

 rock and shale, as is their wont, under the brilliant 

 sun of these high regions, are most difficult to make 

 out, unless they should chance to move. Their 

 horns are most peculiar, and quite unlike those of 

 any other animal. To describe their shape and 

 curves so as to give an idea of their appearance is 

 difficult, suffice it to say that they are smooth and 

 rounded with a prominent ridge along the front, 

 and an old horn has a curious appearance which 

 can only be described as " creased." The horns, 

 starting close together on the forehead, rise first 

 upward and outward, then curve downward and 

 outward, sweeping backward and upward to a point. 

 As regards measurements, an average head would 

 measure perhaps twenty-two inches in length, with 

 a circumference at the base of eleven or twelve 

 inches ; but heads very much larger than this are 



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