298 THE SHAPPOO. 



grotesque representations of figures, evidently belonging to 

 the Chinese school of art. Two rows of rudely carved, massive 

 wooden pillars, which support the dark smoke-stained roof, 

 form the principal architectural features of the place. 



It takes some time to become accustomed to the " dim re- 

 ligious light " from a number of brass oil-burners, and from 

 a few little apertures near the roof, before we are able to dis- 

 cern all the wonderful paraphernalia contained in this monastic 

 chapel. As a peculiar odour of joss - stick, or something 

 answering the purpose of incense, combined with the smell 

 of burnt oil and that perfume which usually emanates from 

 unwashed humanity, pervades the close atmosphere of this 

 ill-ventilated apartment, we are not sorry to be out of it and 

 again breathing fresh air. 



On the mountains in the neighbourhood of this place, a 

 kind of wild sheep called shappoo or shalmar (Ovis vignei) is 

 plentiful. As it is said to be almost identical with the oorial 

 (Ovis cycloceros) of the Punjab, we do not care then to waste 

 our time and tissue in its pursuit on such arid uninviting 

 mountains as it here affects. There is, however, a slight 

 difference between the shappoo and the oorial, the horns of 

 the former being rather thicker and less circular in their 

 curve, and the hair of the face and on the throat much darker 

 than that of the latter. Yet it seems strange that animals so 

 nearly similar should occur at such different altitudes and in 

 such different climates, the one not usually above two or three 

 thousand feet, and the other seldom below ten thousand. 

 But let us resume our route. 



Next morning a descent for some eight miles through the 

 narrowest and wildest of defiles, where the path in many 

 places overhangs the deep torrent rushing past below, and 

 sometimes consists only of a few rough planks supported on 

 poles driven into crevices in perpendicular faces of rock, 

 brings us to the river Indus. After crossing the river by a 

 wooden bridge, we encamp a few miles farther on in a small 



