GAME AT GREAT ELEVATIONS. 459 



selves obliged to keep the mouth constantly open, and 

 pant after the slightest exertion, exactly as if they had 

 taken a smart run. The cold air thus obtaining admission 

 into the mouth and lungs is likely to give rise to 

 considerable risks of various kinds of ailments, one of 

 the most frequently annoying of which is toothache, 

 as also congestive inflammation of the respiratory 

 organs. 



If a man has carious or defective teeth, the keen 

 air is almost certain to affect such teeth, and cause 

 severe toothache. The teeth therefore should always 

 be seen to before setting out upon a trip through a highly 

 elevated region. It is however fortunate that the 

 cold at these altitudes is always very dry, the risks 

 of lung troubles, etc., being thereby greatly min- 

 imized, and there can be little doubt that it is owing 

 to the dry condition of the atmosphere that the wild 

 animals which inhabit the higher ranges of great 

 mountains are enabled to support the cold constantly 

 prevailing at these great altitudes. There are several 

 descriptions of game animals whose natural home 

 lies entirely above the limits of the forest growth, upon 

 the rugged and grass covered slopes which intervene 

 between the trees and the snow line. These animals 

 are mostly of the goat and sheep family, and some 

 of them rarely or never descend to the wooded portion, 

 but even during the severest winters continue to find 

 shelter and sustenance on rugged and precipitous slopes, 

 where the freezing winds which sweep these barren 

 heights generally keep them pretty free from snow. 

 For instance Colonel Kinloch thinks that the Burrel 

 (Ovis Nah2ira) which inhabits the bleak table -lands of 

 Thibet and the higher Himalayas generally, is probably 



