" GOA ! " 349 



grounds for others in which, this year, they found food equally 

 abundant. This was more particularly the case with the wild 

 yaks in Changchenmo, where they had almost forsaken their 

 wonted resorts, and had appeared in great numbers more 

 eastward, where in general they were much more scarce. 

 This fact we afterwards learnt from the man who had been 

 hunting near us in Kugrang. He, like ourselves, had seen 

 hardly any dong, whereas his companion, who had been in 

 another and, under ordinary circumstances, a more unlikely 

 locality for finding them, had killed seven or eight, and with- 

 out having to search far from his tent. 



On the day we left Hanle, as we were trudging along in 

 advance of our baggage-yaks, we got our first sight of a buck 

 goa as he beat a hasty retreat over some distant rising ground. 



The following morning we were both afoot very early, each 

 taking a separate line of country ; whilst our traps were to 

 follow direct to our next camping-place, in the vicinity of 

 which the Major's guide said there was a chance of finding 

 Oves Ammon. 



Phoebus was just waking up as I topped the brow of a rise 

 and carefully looked over, when I noticed that the light of 

 his countenance was shed on two small objects that stood on 

 the face of an opposite slope. They did not look much like 

 stones, though they were just as motionless. Pointing them 

 out to a Tartar who was following me, he merely ejaculated 

 " Goa ! " and instantly squatted. On taking a spy at them 

 through the glass, they turned out to be two fine bucks ; but 

 the sharp-eyed little creatures, notwithstanding the distance 

 we were from them, had already detected our heads for 

 they could have seen nothing more and were gazing straight 

 towards us. Presently one of them went bounding and skip- 

 ping away up the slope, sometimes turning round for a few 

 seconds to look back, until he at length disappeared over its 

 brow. His companion continued to gaze; but as we kept 

 perfectly still, he at last appeared to think that he must have 



