92 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



usually necessitates going up one of the little side- 

 valleys for shelter. In them the going is steeper 

 and worse, but on the whole the ground is easy, and 

 there are few places which can be called really dan- 

 gerous. 



Morning is the best time for stalking; after mid- 

 day the wind commonly becomes very strong and 

 shifty, the sky cloudy, and a fall of rain or, late in 

 the season when we were there, of snow is an almost 

 daily occurrence. Morse had been here in the 

 spring and early summer, and told me that the 

 weather then was very bad and wet, so July and 

 August should be the best months. 



During our short stay the weather was very 

 cold, and getting more so daily, and the necessary 

 start before dawn was not an unmixed joy, while 

 using the telescope was unpleasant for half-frozen 

 fingers. 



The ibex are, I think, bigger beasts than the 

 Himalayan ones, and are certainly darker in colour, 

 while their hair is shorter and not so woolly, nor 

 have the bucks such a strong smell, even in the late 

 autumn, which is their rutting season. As will be 

 seen, we were there but a very few days, and were 

 moving all the time, which does not give one a fair 

 chance ; but a hard-working sportsman, provided 

 that he is a decent shot, should have no difficulty in 

 getting twenty beasts in a month. Of these none 

 should have horns of less than 45 inches, while, 



