Wild Sheep. 



and as they eat nothing but grass, of which there is enough in the 

 Tekkes to supply all the cavalry in Europe, their keep costs nil. 



The road into the Agiass lay through the hills and thence 

 over a pass at the head of the Kok Terek, leading down into the 

 ibex nullah. The second march out from the roe-deer ground 

 took us into the valley leading to the pass, and at the last Kazak 

 encampment I bought some sheep sufficient to last a fortnight. 

 I camped some distance below the " da wan " under a clump 

 of pines, intending to cross on the morrow. The hills around 

 looked good ibex ground, and as the Kazaks had moved down 

 into the Tekkes Valley with their flocks the game would now be 

 undisturbed. 



The next morning at 4.30, September 2nd, I went on ahead 

 with Numgoon, as he informed me we might possibly come 

 across some wild sheep near the pass and on the far side of it. 

 The path was very rough and stony, but quite practicable for the 

 little caravan. We left our ponies just below the summit, and 

 then went on foot to look for the sheep. On the Agiass side we 

 sighted a herd, and after an arduous stalk lasting two hours 

 I bagged one. 



The identity of these sheep is, as far as one can ascertain, 

 still undetermined. Some sportsmen who have shot in the 

 Thian Shan incline to the belief that they are Ovis karelini, 

 but the question lacks scientific determination. They do 

 not run big, an average head being about 45 inches, though the 

 one shot by me that day was barely 40. In the Kok Bel Hills, 

 to the north of the Tekkes River, one gets a larger species, and 

 in the J air and Saur Mountains north-east of Kulja still another. 

 Then in the Altai roams the big Ovis amnion, but the largest of 

 all is the Ovis poll found on the Pamirs. Later on I bagged 

 another specimen of the Ovis karelini, the horns of which taped 

 just over 40 inches. 



The nullah we were in was a wild and rugged side ravine, 

 an off-shoot of the main Agiass Valley, camp being pitched on a 

 rich grass sward near the water's edge. Above us stretched the 



225 Q 



