THE ARGAL1. 49 



Description, &c. 



THE AUGALL 



THE argali, or wild sheep, is about the size 

 qf a small deej, with large arched horns, wrink- 

 led on their upper surface, and flatted beneath. 

 Those of some of the old rams are sometimes of 

 such a prodigious size as to weigh fifteen or six- 

 teen pounds each. In summer the fleece is of a 

 brownish ash-colour, mixed with grey on the 

 upper parts, and whitish beneath. In winter the 

 former changes to a rusty, and the latter to a 

 whitish grey. 



These animals abound in Kamtschatka, where 

 they furnish the inhabitants both with food and 

 clothing. Their flesh, indeed, is held in such 

 esteem that the Kamtschadales pronounce it fit 

 diet for the gods; and whole families abandon 

 their habitations in the spring of the year, and 

 devote the entire summer to the employment of 

 the chase amidst the steepest and most rocky 

 mountains. 



These sheep are generally killed with guns or 

 arrows; sometimes with cross-bows placed in 

 their paths, and discharged by their treading on 

 a string. When chased by dogs, their fleetness 

 is exerted to gain the heights, whence they look 

 down upon their pursuers as it were with con- 

 tempt. The purpose, however, is answered : for 

 .while their attention is thus occupied, the hunter 

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