344 BLACK WILD DOGS. 



we saw what we felt sure were the two big rams that had 

 been the primary cause of our disappointment, disappearing 

 in the dusk. I suppose my bad luck had made me grow 

 callous to further excitement that day, for I merely joined 

 with Changter in giving them a parting malediction as they 

 galloped away at their best pace, seemingly in the same 

 direction the others had taken. Although I felt I had lost 

 my chance, on this ground at any rate, I spent some time in 

 a fruitless search among the hills in the vicinity of the Pan- 

 goor tso, which I had seen lying away to the north of where 

 the Oves Ammon had fled from, and towards which they 

 seemed to have gone. 



The reader's patience will, I fear, have been as much tried 

 as mine was by this long and unsuccessful pursuit. But the 

 majority of Tibetan sportsmen will, I think, agree with me 

 when I say that its result was only what is very frequently 

 the case when stalking this most wary animal; and, as an 

 old shikaree once sagely remarked to me by way of consola- 

 tion on my missing my shot, " If we always killed our game, 

 there would soon be little left to shoot at." 



On rejoining the Major, I found that his previous luck in 

 finding Oves Ammon must have been transferred to me, as he 

 had seen nothing but a small flock of napoo and a pack of 

 wild dogs. Amongst the latter he had observed two which 

 he described as looking quite black, with red or tan marks 

 about the head, and similar in size to the others, which were 

 of the usual red colour. I afterwards heard of black dogs 

 having also been seen by a sportsman in Changchenmo. 

 They could hardly have been mistaken for the Tibetan black 

 wolf, which is a much larger animal, and decidedly greyish 

 about the muzzle, and was not likely to be hunting in com- 

 pany with a pack of wild dogs. 



