234 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



still hard from the previous night's frost, so that there 

 was no other means of getting across them but to 

 take a long run and negotiate them by the strength 

 of the impulse, landing on the other side some fifty 

 or sixty yards below. Some of these snow - shoots 

 were fairly twenty yards wide, and the precipice 

 below was by no means a cheering sight. Little 

 Taba was not to be stopped by this, and several 

 times one of these snow-slides divided us, my hesi- 

 tation making me wait before the decisive rush. In 

 some places the snow had given way, and I could dis- 

 tinguish some yards below long smooth ice cylinders 

 that had been formed round the trickling water, 

 whose hollow murmur might have given a shudder 

 to the bravest mountaineer. At all events the snow 

 did not give way under our feet, and we managed 

 to get over the disagreeable passages with bruised 

 feet and torn rubber soles. Another half-hour up 

 a steep slope, covered with sharp-edged stones and 

 shingle, brought us to a low pass leading into the 

 valley where our Ibex had been spied by us, being 

 within about 400 yards of where we had last seen 

 them feeding. Here we halted to rest. The grassy 

 slope that stretched itself before us contained few 

 hiding-places, and the question now arose whether 

 we should wait for the animals to come towards us 



