UNSUCCESSFUL TRIALS 165 



mostly ewes, feeding on the slopes of a deep ravine 

 some 800 yards below us. Two or three rams 

 amongst them seemed to promise very fair trophies. 

 These had evidently finished their meal, and were 

 slumbering in the open whilst their spouses kept 

 watch. At first I decided that they must be young 

 rams, the larger ones generally keeping apart from 

 arkhar at that time of year, and I was about 

 abandoning them, when my shikari said they were 

 Yan kotchkor (big rams), which statement my 

 telescope soon confirmed. Little Taba was seldom 

 mistaken in his judgment ! Unhappily, the un- 

 dulating slopes, over which we advanced on all- 

 fours, soon broke into an abrupt descent, and pre- 

 vented further concealment. We crawled back 

 accordingly, and, making a long dttoiir, tried to 

 stalk them from another side ; but here again we 

 were stopped by the fiat stretch of grass leading- 

 straight down to the herd. Some of the ewes 

 had fed up towards us in the meantime, and con- 

 siderably interfered with our approach. Moreover, 

 the wind veered round in a most dangerous way. 

 After several unsuccessful trials to get nearer from 

 other directions, I finally convinced myself that the 

 only way was to lay low and wait, in case they 

 might come towards us later on in the day or feed 



