A MONGOLIAN THUNDERSTORM 259 



stores." This was indeed good news. The ladies 

 had ordered the Kalmuk back with the necessary 

 things for a night out. 



In the evening we witnessed a Mongolian thunder- 

 storm, — very different to European ones ! It seemed 

 as if the end of the world had come. The continued 

 rattling of the thunder, blending with the noise of the 

 gale, and interspersed with long flashes of lightning, 

 combined to produce a terrible, yet magnificent, display 

 not easily to be forgotten. 



On the following morning, there being no sign of 

 Littledale, and the sky having cleared, I sent Taba 

 out in the hope that he might find some clue to the 

 whereabouts of my wounded sheep, while I remained 

 in camp in eager expectation. At 4 p.m. Taba 

 returned, after an unsuccessful search. Half an hour 

 later we perceived a small party riding towards us ; 

 this was Littledale with his two men. He brought 

 in the finest head of Ovis ammon that had as yet 

 been obtained, and it proved to be the record. Its 

 measurements, as taken on the spot, were the follow- 

 ing : Length, 63 inches; girth, 19^ inches; from tip 

 to tip, 41^ inches. He gave us a most graphic 

 account of his two days' experiences. He had come 

 across the same herd which my wife had saluted 

 with five shots from his " Mannlicher," and to which 



