246 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI 



by steamer to Biisk, and a day or two there to make 

 arrangements for the road, brings the total up to from 

 sixteen to twenty days ; and if you do not waste too 

 much time bargaining for horses on the road, another 

 four days will take you easily to Onguidai. A day or 

 more may possibly have to be spent here while securing 

 horses to Kosh-Agach, which can be reached in from 

 five to eight days, according to the state of the road 

 and whether you decide to drive or take pack-ponies. 

 If you have not a great deal of baggage, I would re- 

 commend wheels as the quickest. This brings the 

 total time from London to Kosh-Agach up to, roughly 

 speaking, a month. 



Expense? That is a question which I would not 

 venture to advise upon. You might be back in London 

 in three months from the time you started, having 

 accomplished your trip for £250 ; but you might, on the 

 other hand, have spent £500, — expenditure is so largely 

 dependent on personal idiosyncrasy, as well as on a 

 whole host of minor circumstances. ^ This, then, must 

 suffice for my duties as a guide. 



I have said that the horns of the Ovis Ammon make 

 one of the rarest trophies obtainable at the present 

 day ; I might also add that the beast that carries them 

 is about the most difficult animal to stalk successfully 

 that I have ever come across. This shall be my excuse 

 for describing a few days' sport of my own ; and lest I 

 render these pages tedious with an unduly lengthy 

 description of the country, I will omit all account of my 

 journey there, and begin at once at Kosh-Agach, close 

 to the scene of action. For a week I had been marching 

 through magnificent mountain scenery, where dense 



1 Major Swayne gives much useful information concerning outfit, expense, 

 &c., in an appendix to his book. He there works out the expenditure on a 

 three months' trip in detail, arriving at a total of £256. 



