330 UNKNOWN MONGOLIA 



" heads " which will not allow themselves to be ap- 

 proached. But in the morning the necessity for action 

 clears away all this, and he starts out full of confidence. 



To hunt any of the big sheep of Central Asia success- 

 fully, it is of the utmost importance to make a really 

 early start from camp. As Makandaroff put it in his 

 very picturesque language, ** What time hunt mouton 

 nlcessaire rise early. Mouton be very good general.'' 



Wild-sheep generally spend several hours during the 

 middle of the day, especially during the hot summer 

 months, in lying down in one of those unapproachable 

 positions which the hunter learns to know only too 

 well. A very favourite site is on a shale-slope, which 

 harmonizes perfectly with their own colour, near the 

 crest of some commanding, round-topped hill, though 

 not actually on the top, for that would advertise their 

 position to their enemies. The wind, curling over the 

 crest to them, secures them on their only blind side, for 

 few beasts possess a more highly developed sense of 

 smell. In every other direction their restless gaze 

 wanders incessantly over a vast expanse of smooth 

 rolling grass and shale, across which, as a rule, it is 

 quite useless for a human being to attempt to approach 

 them. If sheep have been driven into rougher and 

 more broken ground, as is often the case in the Tian 

 Shan, where it is impossible for them to take up a 

 position commanding an extensive view, they have 

 the almost uncanny knack of selecting a resting-place 

 where, owing to the formation of the ground, the wind 

 converges upon them in all directions. For this reason 

 the horse-shoe-shaped head of a valley is much favoured 

 by them. It is principally persecution, from time im- 

 memorial, by their most dreaded enemies, the wolves, 



