ioo AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



river, quite shallow here, on horseback, and rode 

 some way clown the stream, striking off to the right 

 at its junction with the Bain-Tchagan, and following 

 up the latter. Man)- old heads lay about on the 

 river-bed, betraying" at least former presence of 

 " Kotchkor." We came across quantities of Hares 

 and Marmots, which kept darting off in front of us 

 as we passed like shadows in the morning twilight. 

 No sound was to be heard save, now and then, the 

 shrill whistle of a Marmot regaining" its hole. 



The Promised Land at last! It was with throbbing" 

 heart that I repeated to myself those two magic 

 words, though I still felt rather sceptical as to the 

 presence of old rams on the rolling hillocks, which 

 I could now plainly distinguish before us. We must 

 cross over into Mongolia, thought I, where hills 

 are higher, and the country wilder, to find the 

 old patriarch's haunts ; but my hunters seemed to 

 be confident of success, for they kept saying, 

 "Kotchkor ba" ("There are sheep"). Moreover, 

 Joseph, who was our principal guide, confirmed the 

 statement that Cumberland had found sheep in the 

 vicinity of camp, and had not considered it worth 

 while to cross the frontier at all. Fortunately I was 

 soon to be mistaken. 



After a couple of hours' ride I discovered a herd 



