A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



for three hundred yards (they were far below me 

 and going straight away), so as to be well ahead of 

 the animal I aimed at, I fired right and left at two 

 rams which were bringing up the rear of the flock. 

 Both bullets told, one ram separating from the rest, 

 while the other went on slowly, and evidently in 

 distress. It was a lucky shot, but scarcely, I am 

 afraid, to be commended as a sporting one. Almost 

 immediately after I had fired, the curious effect of 

 the atmosphere at these heights was well shown, as, 

 though under ordinary conditions the flock should 

 have been easily visible, being on open ground and 

 only some five hundred yards away, yet they literally 

 disappeared in the trembling heat-haze on the shale 

 slope ; the remarkable sympathy in colour between 

 the animal and the ground of course assisting in this. 

 The horns of the rams measured twenty-two and 

 twenty-three inches respectively ; but the second one 

 was not secured until he finally sank exhausted on 

 a snow slope at 'about 18,000 feet some six miles 

 away from where he was shot. Satisfied with my 

 sport in the Gya Nalah, at any rate as far as the 

 napoo were concerned, I set out on August 3rd 

 to cross the Kiameri-La into the district of Tin, 

 which lies at the head of a valley running up to the 

 south from the Indus. That day, however, I did 

 not cross the Pass, but encamped at the head of 

 Kayma, where there is a fine semicircle of parti- 

 coloured mountains topped with snow. I scaled a 



high hill in the middle of this amphitheatre, which 



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