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CHAPTER XIX. 



THE OVIS AMMON THE PANGONG LAKE A JOYLESS SOLITUDE LONELI- 

 NESS LUKKUR'S ESCAPADE THE CAUSE OF IT A LONG AND LUCKY 



SHOT THE LORD OP THE FLOCK IS LEFT BEHIND BLACK WOLF 

 TIBETAN MARMOT LIMIT OF VEGETATION IN TIBET OVIS AMMON 

 GROUND TWO BIG RAMS SIGHTED A CONTRETEMPS HOW I 

 BLESSED THE AUTHOR OF IT MORE BIG RAMS THEIR EXTREME 

 WARINESS TWO HO*URS' PATIENCE HALF-BAKED IN THE SUN A 

 STORMY MORNING MORE BEAUTIES IN SIGHT A LONG AND TRYING 

 STALK THE OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED IN IT WHAT COULD HAVE 

 SCARED THE FLOCK ? WE COME UP WITH IT AGAIN A DRIVE IS AT- 

 TEMPTED ITS RESULT MISPLACED CONFIDENCE BLACK WILD DOGS. 



IN hunting the Ovis Ammon, or Nian as in Tibet it is called, 

 the sportsman must expect to undergo a great deal of fatigue 

 and frequent disappointment, and to have his patience and 

 endurance tried pretty severely ; but should he have the luck 

 to secure even one really fine specimen, he may think him- 

 self well rewarded for all his trouble. One may wander for 

 days and days over known good localities without seeing 

 large rams ; and when they are found, their " cuteness " is 

 in proportion to their size, for even then they may have to 

 be followed for many a mile, and, as likely as not, without 

 getting a shot at them after all. An old ram Ovis Amman is 

 certainly the most wary and restless game-animal that exists 

 even the crafty Highland stag is a fool compared with him ; 

 and the ground he frequents is usually so open and bare as 

 often to make approaching him there next thing to impos- 

 sible. The ever-blowing wind, too, which is so shifty among 

 these undulating uplands and ravines, frequently baffles the 



