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CHAPTER XVIII. 



IN hunting the Oms Ammon, or Nian as in Tibet it is 

 called, the sportsman must expect to undergo a great deal 

 of fatigue and frequent disappointment, and to have his 

 patience and endurance tried pretty severely ; but should 

 he have the luck to secure even one really fine specimen, 

 he may think himself well rewarded for all his trouble. 

 One may wander for days and days over known good 

 localities without seeing large rams; and when they are 

 found, their " cuteness " is in proportion to their size, for 

 even then they may have to be followed for many a mile, 

 and, as likely as not, without getting a shot at them after 

 all. An old ram Oms Ammon is certainly the most wary 

 and restless game-animal that exists even the crafty High- 

 land stag is a fool compared with him ; and the ground he 

 frequents is usually so open and bare as often to make 

 approaching him there next thing to impossible. The 

 ever-blowing wind, too, which is so shifty among these un- 

 dulating uplands and ravines, frequently baffles the best of 

 stalkers ; but all this only makes the pleasure of success 

 the greater. 



A full-grown Oms Ammon (or Oms Argali) stands about 

 twelve hands. The general colour of its pile which is 

 short, soft, and close is a kind of light brownish-grey, 

 growing much darker about the withers and fore-quarters, 

 and slightly so along the centre of the back. In autumn it 

 becomes darker all over, and more glossy. Under the chest 



