BUFFALO AND BISON 303 



sight and hearing are not very acute, especially 

 when he is grazing. Old bulls, however, have a 

 habit of taking up a position on a knoll in the 

 middle of the day, when they are very difficult to 

 approach. 



In the early 'seventies, when the hill shooter was 

 not so plentiful as he is nowadays, after having a 

 good bag of ibex and bears in the Pangi valley, south 

 of Kashmir, I conceived the idea of penetrating 

 through Zanskar (a very little known region then), 

 and going on through Ladak into Changchenmo, to 

 try for yak and antelope. After some very hard 

 marching I got to Leh about the middle of July, 

 where I made arrangements for supplies and trans- 

 port, and started off for Changchenmo, an elevated 

 valley which once on a time was full of game Ovis 

 hodgsoni^ bharal, antelope, and yak. I did not 

 expect much, as it was late in the season, and two 

 men had hunted there before me, one of whom I met 

 on my way out from Leh. 



He told me I might as well go back, as every- 

 thing had been scared off. However I was not to 

 be put off, and a day or two after crossed the Mar- 

 semik Pass (18,420 feet). On may way over I 

 sighted a herd of ovis, but after a long chase had to 

 give it up. I then dropped down into Changchenmo, 

 a very open valley, through which ran a considerable 

 stream, with here and there on the banks flats of 

 green grass, the resort of the antelope. The slopes 

 on each side of the valley were easy and bare, with 

 tufts of coarse grass and burtza (wormwood) sparsely 



