250 THE YAK. 



three months back, and with two other men had killed 

 nine, three of them close by us. This intelligence set us 

 quite cock-a-hoop. 



28th August. We were all afoot ere dawn, and off up 

 the mountain. Having gained some distance, we came 

 upon tracks which in the dull light we pronounced 

 recent, and continued our toilsome ascent, cheered by the 

 discovery. A bitter sharp wind came off the snows, 

 cutting one's face like a knife, and here, as in all this 

 region, respiration was most difficult. The Yarkandi, to 

 my surprise, suffered more than any of us from this 

 inconvenience, stopping every ten or a dozen paces for 

 relief. We reached the grassy slopes under the snows, 

 where yak were wont to be invariably found ; but, one 

 after the other, they were anxiously reconnoitred, and 

 found blank. As the light had increased, I carefully 

 examined the tracks, and felt sure they were many days 

 old. The Cashmiries were quite at fault here ; they are 

 truly indifferent hunters. We now ascended a steep 

 sharp ridge which gained us admission to a lot of 

 ravines, in which the Yarkandi made sure of a find ; but 

 these we traversed with like ill success, and then, having 

 stopped an hour for refreshment, went on to a third 

 favourite haunt, equally empty, and the signs of the 

 same date. While resting on a ridge, we saw a kyang 

 crossing a hill-side behind us : he looked like a large 

 donkey, with a disproportionately large head. The wind 

 being adverse, we could not attempt to do anything with 

 him. The traps and attendants had been ordered up the 

 main valley to the entrance of another gorge, for which 

 we now directed our steps ; and, after a tiresome descent, 

 and a long tramp over a shelving flat of some six miles, 

 we reached our camp, much beat, and our anticipations 

 greatly reduced : yet the Yarkandi persisted in the most 



