1 68 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



Pamirs are littered, it seems they fall an easier 

 prey than the females. Why nature hands 

 the male over such a comparatively helpless prey 

 to his enemies is one of those mysteries of which I 

 have heard of no satisfactory explanation, though 

 we must believe that in some way or other the 

 existence of these magnificent encumbrances is 

 of some advantage to the race as a whole. 



So careful of the type she seems, 

 So careless of the single life. 



While looking out with the glasses for poll one 

 morning, the writer's attention was drawn to a 

 wolf trotting away with so big a piece of meat in 

 his mouth that he had to sit down and rest every 

 now and then ; and shortly after more wolves 

 appeared, evidently belonging to one pack. Their 

 tracks all led from a point near where I was 

 sitting, and drew my attention to the body of a 

 freshly killed ram. The Pamir was bare and 

 white with snow for miles, and with the glasses 

 I could mark the course of a tragedy, of the prin- 

 cipal performers in which I had just seen the exit. 

 Far away were the tracks of a big herd of poll : a 

 sudden onslaught by wolves, and they had bolted 

 up the valley all save one ram, presumably the 

 slowest in the herd, which had been singled out. 

 This one had shaped his course downhill. As he 



