i6 4 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



tion, so as to get well behind the Happy Valley. 

 There was a large tract of country which neither 

 of us had yet explored, and it was quite probable 

 that the sheep, frightened by our frequent visits to 

 the main nullah, might have shifted their quarters 

 over the ridge southwards, where a great number 

 of ravines would afford the old rams the shelter 

 they badly required. We therefore crossed without 

 dismounting, or even spying the two broad valleys 

 which I had visited on the 26th, and where I had 

 only come across young rams and ewes (arkkar), 

 and it was not before we had ridden for three good 

 hours that I considered myself on the regular war- 

 path, and began to advance cautiously. We now 

 found ourselves on a small tableland, at an altitude 

 of about 9,000 feet, under the southern ridge of 

 the Happy Valley, and the long stretches of snow, 

 melting fast under the sun's powerful rays, con- 

 verted the gravelly soil into muddy swamps ; our 

 ponies, incapable of much exertion, soon refused to 

 work. Leaving them to the care of my Kalmuk 

 gillie, I went on with Taba, and presently sat down 

 to spy. Numerous stony corries lay before us, with 

 patches of fine grass below, and small streams 

 trickling along the bottom into the Suok Valley. 

 A herd of sheep soon came into sight ; they were 



