250 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



terms with their neighbours. The valley of Chang Chenmo, 

 north of the Pangong Lake, and the ground between the Niti 

 Pass and the Sutlej, are the only two easily accessible places 

 where yak may be met with. Beyond Chang Chenmo there 

 is said to be good ground on the Karakash, but to cross the 

 Linzinthung plains would require special arrangements, and 

 ponies would have to be taken instead of the ordinary tame 

 yaks on account of the scarcity of grass. An old wild bull 

 yak is a magnificent teast ; he is nearly jet black, with a little 

 grey about the muzzle and forehead. Though fifteen hands in 

 height, his legs are short and sturdy. The long shaggy hair 

 which droops from his body reaches down to his knees, and 

 sometimes almost to the ground ; and his huge swab of a tail 

 rather adds to than detracts from his beauty. The white tails 

 which are brought for sale are those of tame yaks ; a wild bull's 

 tail is such an unwieldy mass of hair that it is not at all the 

 sort of thing to have flipping round one's head on a hot evening. 

 Tame yaks have often a good deal of white about them. 

 Wild yaks with white patches have occasionally been shot, but 

 only cows as far as the writer can learn ; wild bulls appear 

 always to be black. The Tartars say that these mottled wild 

 yaks are hybrids between the tame bulls, which are turned out 

 to graze on the hills in the summer, and wild cows. 



Captain Duff contributes the following interesting account 

 of a successful stalk after yak : 



I was out one day after a couple of Thibetan antelope, and not 

 being able to get near them, was looking about to see if there was 

 any game farther up the nullah. Right away up the head of the 

 valley we saw a large herd of dhong, about twenty or more, with 

 a lot of young ones, and even at that distance we could distinguish 

 one much bigger than the rest. The next day, a heavy fall of snow 

 prevented my going out ; but on the third day, I started to try for 

 them. It was a long walk to get anywhere near the herd, and of 

 course, just as I was beginning to go a bit carefully, and take 

 advantage of cover, I put up three very fair Oves Ammon, but the 

 dhong did not seem to notice them, and the wind all through was 

 in my favour. A bit farther on I came across one of those beastly 



