A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



hundreds of feet above the valley, whose stones 

 went rolling down at every step till they fell into 

 the abysses below. Here, for the first time, I 

 found that English shooting-boots were better to 

 wear than the ordinary Pula or grass-shoe, or even 

 Chaplis. About 10 A.M. we viewed the shapoo on 

 the opposite side of a deep valley, which it would 

 have taken me hours to circumvent, during which 

 time they would probably have moved away, so 

 that there was nothing for it but to lie down and 

 wait. During this period of waiting I had an 

 excellent opportunity of watching these sheep 

 through the glasses ; some lay down and slept, 

 some grazed, some played about, but one always 

 acted as a sentinel and kept watch, being in his 

 turn relieved by another. On one occasion two 

 rams had a butting match, and the shock of their 

 meeting was plainly audible across the valley some 

 seconds after the impact, though I must have been 

 fully a mile distant at the time. 



About 4 o'clock in the afternoon the flock moved 

 off towards the head of the valley, and, hoping that 

 they would cross it and come along our side, Salia 

 set off to meet them. Never shall I forget that 

 scramble ! We had certainly kept the best (or 

 worst) till the last. I was dragged- along a slope of 

 shale so steep that if we stopped for a moment to 

 take breath, not only ourselves, but the whole hill- 

 side, commenced sliding down towards the precipices 



in which the slope terminated far below ; occasion- 



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