346 UNKNOWN MONGOLIA 



region which sportsmen have most visited, and, without 

 doubt, it is the nucleus of the ammon ground. The 

 higher pastures of this broad mass of ideal sheep-country 

 lie above the summer range of the Mongols, and rams 

 are still undoubtedly plentiful there. The Bain-Khair- 

 khan, in the days of Demidoff and Littledale, must have 

 abounded in rams, but to-day the natives graze their 

 flocks over the greater part of it, and the chances of 

 shooting a good head there are remote. There is ample 

 proof that the range of Ovis amnion typica extends 

 along the whole length of the Great or Mongolian 

 Altai, to the eastern extremity of the range. 



Though more than one Russian explorer mentions 

 having met with sheep in the Eastern Altai, it is 

 to Sir Francis Younghusband that we are indebted 

 for by far the most interesting information on this 

 subject. In his remarkable journey of 1887 across the 

 Gobi, from Pekin to Hami, he struck the Great Altai 

 at its most easterly extremity in longitude 100° East. 

 He estimated the height of the range, even at its terminal 

 portion, as 9,000 ft. above sea-level, and the natives 

 reported grassy plateaux in the centre. These two 

 combinations sound suitable for ammon. Though Sir 

 Francis did not visit these high plateaux, where the 

 sheep would have been at that season (July), yet on 

 the outlying southern foot-hills horns were found lying 

 on the ground which, from their great girth of 19 in. 

 and general shape, undoubtedly belonged to Ovis ammon 

 typica. 



When we were in the desert north-east of Guchen, 

 the Baitik Bogdo Range, a southern and somewhat 

 isolated appendage of the Altai, was visible to the 

 north. The Kirei Kirghiz, when asked what game was 



