A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



does not fall to the luck of everyone to get a good 

 head of a rare animal. The next chance that I got 

 at nyan was in Kayma. 



Saibra had been sent on early, and when we 

 came up with him, had seen six rams a long way 

 off. After some time we discovered them, lying 

 down in the middle of a large open space, and far 

 above us. To get near them seemed almost impos- 

 sible ; however, we ascertained the direction of the 

 wind, and, as there were no clouds about, and no 

 snow in the immediate neighbourhood, we hoped 

 that it might hold steady during the stalk. This 

 varying wind is the most trying factor in stalking in 

 these regions, as anyone who has shot in Thibet 

 well knows. If the day chance to be cloudy, or if 

 snow or glaciers be near at hand, the wind is con- 

 tinually shifting to every point of the compass, and, 

 as Ward says : " If the stalker feels a puff of wind 

 on his back when within seven hundred or eight 

 hundred yards of the game (nyan), he well knows 

 that it is ' all up ! '" 



However, on this occasion the wind was good 

 enough to keep steady. We climbed about one 

 hundred feet to a small ridge above the plateau 

 where we had seen the nyan and peeped over. 

 There they were, all lying down on their sides in 

 the sun, but about two hundred yards away, and, 

 excited as I was, I refused to risk a shot at this 

 distance. By crawling flat on our faces, Salia 



managed to gain about fifty yards, anJ there we lay 



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