nG AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



seemed to me impossible to attempt crossing it with 

 pack-ponies, though I could only judge from a distance 

 of some miles, there being no time to inspect the place 

 thoroughly that day. On our way we came across 

 numerous horns of Maral (Cervus canadensis asiaticus 

 or Ccrvus eustephanus) that had been evidently shed 

 many years before, white and weather-worn as they 

 appeared. My hunters told me that the country 

 abounded in Maral ten or twelve years ago, but that 

 they had nearly all been shot for the sake of their 

 precious antlers, and that the few that remained had 

 taken refuge in the wooded districts on the Siberian 

 side. We also saw a great number of sheep horns in 

 the bed of the stream, whose owners had probably 

 been killed by wolves, or had been starved to death 

 by severe winters and heavy snowfalls. The country 

 bore altogether a touch of wildness and desolation. 

 Towards noon we were caught in a dreadful hail- 

 storm, and returned to camp at 3 p.m. with my 

 well - deserved trophy. I found Littledale in low 

 spirits ; his hunters had taken him by mistake to 

 my ground, and he had convinced himself of the 

 error by discovering our party as we were entering 

 the Happy Valley. 



That evening Vassili, the cook, produced for 

 dinner roast fillet of kotc/ikor, which we found 



