A CURIOUS ASPECT 147 



meal. My glass soon confirmed our suppositions. 

 Seven sheep were feeding quietly on the other side of 

 the valley ; Taba, who was using my telescope, said, 

 " Kitchinek kotckkor" which meant "Young rams," 

 a highly disappointing statement, which was never- 

 theless correct. It was a herd of two and three year 

 old animals, together with some ewes, at first un- 

 noticed. We immediately left the ponies in charge 

 of "the understudy" and started off as cautiously 

 as possible, Taba and myself, towards the next ridge 

 in order to get a good view of the far side of the 

 valley. Unfortunately there was no hiding, and the 

 rams presently caught sight of us, and darted off, 

 followed by a troop of ewes, which jumped up from 

 some lateral ravine. When we found ourselves on 

 the opposite crest an hour later we of course did 

 not expect to see anything in the valley we had 

 just crossed, but began spying the grounds beyond. 

 The sun was now high and exceedingly hot. The 

 country before us presented a curious aspect of low 

 volcanic-shaped hillocks ; the soil was arid and red. 

 I could distinguish Suok River in the distance, 

 flowing through a wide steppe, and on the other 

 side, due south of us, stood a higher range, which 

 my map showed me to be the " Bain-Khairkhan " 

 hills. Several fine-lookine corries in that direction 



