GURLA MANDHATA 123 



ently a very distinct and rare one, remarkable for his 

 size and imposing appearance and his beautiful black 

 silky coat, with long hair hanging^down to his feet and 

 an under-coat of pashm, or close soft wool, without which 

 no animal could endure the winter cold. All the animals 

 of this plateau possess an under-coat of pashm — sheep, 

 goats, and even dogs. 



We had now come out on the watershed of the Brahma- 

 putra, having crossed the range which lies to the north 

 of the Himalayas, Descending rapidly to the northward, 

 we found wide valleys and grassy flats opening out, and 

 all the streams trending towards the east. Jussoo in- 

 formed us that they flowed into a great river which ran 

 towards Lhasa, and that now we were in a vast and un- 

 frequented jungle or wfld country, the home of the 

 ban chowr, or wild yak. We pushed on, to reach before 

 dark some grassy plains, where scanty vegetation and 

 bushes of broom were scattered over the gravelly soil, 

 and a clear stream wound its way over pebbly shallows. 

 Here we pitched our camp, and fires were lighted and 

 the animals turned out to graze. The ground was strewed 

 with the droppings of enormous bulls, and their great 

 tracks, 10 inches across, could be seen everywhere. 

 Colonel Smyth, who had shot the wild yak before in 

 mountains further west, advised us not to approach old 

 solitary bulls incautiously, as they would certainly charge, 

 and, above all things, to aim low in the chest, or behind 

 the shoulder, where the heart lay. The shikaris were 

 ordered to keep a sharp look-out on hills around, and 

 soon reported that a black object was visible. The 

 binoculars revealed a fine bull grazing in a side valley. 

 Soon Hodgson and I were off with two loaded rifle? each. 

 The excitement when we made our stalk, each along the 

 back of a separate ridge, was succeeded by the wildest 



