IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 321 



Here, in small flocks, few and far between, roams the 

 ponderous-horned Ovis, ever watchful and wary, suspecting 

 danger in each gust of tlie icy blast that comes fitfully 

 sweeping over this bleak howling wilderness. A wolf may 

 occasionally be detected slinking stealthily off. Sometimes 

 a shy hare starts from the cover of a scrubby tussock of the 

 stunted herbage that is sparsely scattered over the stony 

 soil ; or a grey marmot may be seen sitting erect on some 

 sandy knoll, disturbing nature's silent repose with its shrill 

 chirping whistle ere it vanishes into its burrow hard by. 

 Even the Tartar hamlets, which very rarely occur in these 

 dreary inhospitable wilds, have a dilapidated, decayed, and 

 forlorn look about them that is quite in keeping with their 

 desolate dream-like surroundings. Such were my general 

 impressions of the country we were now in. 



As we were trudging along some distance ahead of the 

 jooboos, a small flock of ewe Oves Ammon was descried in 

 the distance. Kiangs were feeding here and there among 

 the few bunchy tufts of herbage on the stony plain. We 

 also saw a fine reddish-coloured fox. Our camp was pitched 

 in the best shelter from the wind we could find in a ravine, 

 where some strips of greensward along the banks of a small 

 stream afforded food for the jooboos, but there was no fuel 

 except the thick roots of the " debsing " grass. The boortze 

 of more northern Tibetan regions is here called " debsing." 



Here we decided to remain for a day or two, to hunt in 

 the vicinity. We found one flock of five splendid old 

 rams, and made several attempts to get at them ; but the 

 ground they were on was so flat and bare, and the beasts 

 were so wary, that it was impossible to get within measur- 

 able distance of them : we might just as well have tried 

 to stalk the moon. The innumerable kiangs, too, here 

 grazing about in every direction, were a great nuisance, 

 their startled movements being always calculated to put 

 the Oves on the alert. For even when you may think 

 you are quite safe from detection by an Ovis Ammon as 



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