54 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



body, covered with short, stiff, reddish -coloured 

 hair, is essentially deer-like ; while to understand 

 the agility of the beast one must have seen a 

 frightened herd dashing at full gallop over 

 ground where the human animal can scarcely 

 venture at all. 



The writer's best acquaintance with the circular 

 horned sheep is in the valley of the Indus, from 

 a couple of stages beyond Leh, near the Tibetan 

 border, at a height of 10,000 feet and more, to 

 below Chilas, where the mighty river has fallen 

 to 3000 feet or so above the sea. Here their 

 country marches with that of their kinsmen the 

 great Ovis ammon, and one severe winter when 

 the latter were driven lower down the Indus than 

 usual, the two breeds are known to have crossed, 

 though the offspring of the union have, I am 

 afraid, all been wiped out. It is between Leh 

 and Chilas that the Indus, after rising north of 

 the main Himalayan axis, bursts through this 

 stupendous barrier. The huge rift it has worn 

 for itself appears to one high up on either side 

 of the valley as a great purple gulf opening 

 before him, through the haze of which the snow- 

 topped mountain crests of the opposite side can 

 be seen anything from ten to forty miles away. 

 Far below the big river washes smooth black 

 rocks carved and hollowed into fantastic shapes 



