i 9 o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



or Maggi's consomme 4 , mutton, and tinned fruit. 

 Littledale was off early next morning, whilst I re- 

 mained in camp with the ladies. The heat was 

 simply overpowering-, my thermometer showing 1 20 

 degrees in the shade. I stopped the whole day in 

 our tent, sheltering from the scorching- rays of the 

 sun. The extraordinary variation of temperature in 

 these regions is worth noting. Within five or six 

 hours it fell from 130 degrees above to 3 degrees 

 belozo zero ; as soon as the sun sets the altitude 

 begins to tell, and it may freeze at any moment. 



Towards evening we anxiously expected Littledale's 

 return, but at 9 p.m. there was no sign of him, nor of 

 Taba who had accompanied him, and when we awoke 

 next morning at six there was still no Littledale. 

 Ultimately, however, at 7 a.m. three horsemen 

 appeared in the distance, and great was our relief 

 when we recognised our companion riding in front 

 with a decidedly triumphant air, for there sure enough 

 we made out a magnificent ram's head tied at the 

 back of Taba's saddle. Littledale forthwith gave us 

 an account of his twenty-eight hours' outing in the 

 hills. He had found my herd a couple of miles 

 beyond the ill-fated plateau in a small nullah in the 

 only direction I had failed to examine, and had 

 succeeded in approaching them late in the afternoon, 



