i 9 2 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



country, and rode far beyond the plateau where I had 

 first spied the sheep, until we reached a wide, grassy 

 valley, where we found several herds of ewes grazing 

 at leisure, but no rams. We passed the very spot 

 where Littledale had killed the day before, hardly 

 a mile from where I had seen the animals lying, and 

 I was highly disgusted at my bad luck. We returned 

 to camp at 7 p.m., after twelve hours' continuous 

 riding, without having caught sight of anything worth 

 a shot. 



Thus ended our sport over the Bain-Khairkhan 

 hills. The result was small, but satisfactory, the 

 trophy obtained being that of the largest Ovis aniiuou 

 yet on record, and the second best during the whole 

 trip. Next morning, July 7th, camp was lifted, and 

 a general start was made down the Suok valley 

 with the object of pitching tents if possible at the 

 junction of that stream with the Kobdo River. Our 

 Chinese interpreter, Daniel, who was acting as guide, 

 had come up to me the night before saying that 

 he thought I might find sheep in the lower mountains 

 above the left slopes bordering the Suok steppe, and 

 volunteering to take me to a fine nullah in the Beliou 

 range, thence bringing me on to our next camping 

 place. He added that we could just manage to do 

 it in a day, and I naturally assented to the pro- 



