A DONG IN VIEW. 245 



my patience was getting exhausted, when Changter and 

 Kurreem, wlio liad been for some time lying dozing near 

 me, suddenly lifted their heads, and said they thought they 

 heard a shout in the direction of the pass, ^ark to it 

 again ! There is no doubt about it now, as this time it is 

 borne faintly towards us on the wind that comes sweeping 

 down from the pass in true Tibetan style ; and with the 

 telescope I can distinctly see the Tartar signalling to us to 

 come up. As the ascent is very gentle and easy, we are 

 not long in reaching him, when, to our great delight, he re- 

 ports having seen a single dong on the little green oasis 

 where we had noticed the kiangs grazing two days before. 



Half running down the gradual and snowless slope on the 

 other side of the pass, we soon reach our old look-out spot, 

 from whence we can see our quarry, looking like a little 

 black dot in the distance away below us ; but we shall have 

 to try all we know to circumvent the beast, for the ground 

 is most unfavourable for a stalk. Our only chance rests in 

 being able to reach the bottom of a deep wide valley be- 

 tween us and the dong, by scrambling down a steep stony 

 gully which is in full view of the animal. If we can only 

 manage to get down this unobserved and the wind favours 

 us, the rest of the stalk appears to be comparatively 

 easy. 



Slipping the covers on the rifles to prevent the sun glint- 

 ing on the barrels, and trusting to the great distance keeping 

 our movements unnoticed, Changter and I commence the 

 descent, leaving Kurreem to stop the man leading the pony, 

 who has lagged some way behind us. Fortune is so far 

 kind that we reach the bottom of the valley unperceived ; 

 but a serious obstacle here presents itself in the shape of a 

 rapid swollen torrent of dirty melted snow. Up this we 

 find we must make our way until we can discover a fordable 

 place. Carefully watching the dong's movements, with our 

 bodies bent nearly double, we move forward a few paces 

 whilst it feeds with its head from us, crouching down 



