SPORT ON THE PLATEAUX 347 



to be found there, informed us that there were plenty 

 of " arkar." It would appear, therefore, that if sheep 

 inhabit such outlying hills as the Baitik Bogdo, and 

 those that Sir Francis Younghusband visited farther 

 east, in all probability there are some magnificent 

 hunting-grounds among the high plateaux of the Eastern 

 Altai. 



The eastern extremities of the Altai and Tian Shan 

 ranges are only divided by a narrow strip of desert 

 a hundred miles in breadth ; yet it is of such an abso- 

 lutely barren nature as to completely prevent the range 

 of the Ovis ammon typica of the Altai overlapping 

 that of the Ovis ammon karelini of the Tian Shan. 

 Sir Francis Younghusband describes this gap as being 

 " the most desolate country I have ever seen." Directly 

 the lower slopes of the Tian Shan were reached, this 

 traveller came upon horns decidedly different to those 

 on the Altai side ; they were thinner at the base and 

 more angular than those found farther north. A mag- 

 nificent pair which he picked up there, and which are 

 still in his possession, measure 62 in. in length and 

 16 in. in girth. Our own experiences of the Karlik 

 Tagh sheep bear out his observations ; we saw con- 

 siderable numbers of horns in these mountains, either 

 lying on the ground or in possession of their owners, 

 all of which were similar in thickness and twist to those 

 we saw later on the Borotala. In their winter dress 

 these sheep {Ovis ammon karelini) grow a pure white 

 throat-ruff, 3 in. in length, a characteristic which the 

 Ovis ammon typica of the Altai does not possess. 



The following night we encamped at Belota, and the 

 next day, while Carruthers took the caravan over to 

 the Chagan-gol, Price and I, with one man, hunted our 



