2 3 o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



kind. I was thoroughly damped and numbed by cold, 

 having been caught in a very severe snowstorm at the 

 head of a valley. Littledale brought in the meat of 

 a young ram which he had killed for the pot. He 

 had seen two or three young ones, but no good old 

 males had come in sight. From the intense heat 

 which had prevailed during the last few days in the 

 lower country we felt again as if we were in the 

 middle of winter. We now decided to start on the 

 next morning, having sent Joseph to Kosh-Agatch 

 with a letter to our friend the Zaissan Semion, asking 

 him to supply us with fresh men, horses, and sheep at 

 a place which we thought would be a permanent 

 camp, and where Taba now promised we should get 

 good shooting. Joseph was also to bring back stores, 

 of which we were running short. Constant rain and 

 snow accompanied us our whole day's march, but Taba 

 seemed now to know the way, and took upon him- 

 self to guide us towards success. We marched down 

 the valley, turning westwards towards the Siberian 

 frontier, and camped at the bottom of a wide valley 

 known to the Kalmuks as the Olonur Valley, at the 

 head of which is the Nam Daba Pass, the Russo- 

 Chinese divide. Apparently on our map the river we 

 camped on was the Karaimaty. We were fairly 

 drenched, as we pitched camp at 11 a.m., rain and 



