THE WILD GOATS AND SHEEP OF 

 DARDISTAK 



THE markhor, finest of all the wild goats, attains 

 his greatest size and spread of horns in the wild 

 country of Dardistan, the extreme north-west 

 corner of the Indian Empire and the loftiest 

 mountain country of the world. 



The Himalaya in this part may be divided into 

 zones, with, of course, no very hard-and-fast 

 dividing-line between each. Imagine a traveller 

 starting at the level of the Indus, say at 4000 

 feet, and following one of its tributary valleys 

 upwards. As far as about the 8000 feet contour 

 he will be in a labyrinth of gorges or deep valleys 

 with treeless precipitous sides. He will see gigan- 

 tic slopes of talus culminating in rocks and preci- 

 pices above, and, except for an occasional glimpse 

 of a soaring snow peak, he will know nothing of 

 the glorious alpine country far above him. In 

 summer the air is hot and stifling, and these 

 gorges present a forbidding and inferno - like 



