2 1 2 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



dition, were visible in the distance. My camp 

 was at the very spot where " the wild asses quench 

 their thirst," so the large numbers were probably 

 due to this being the only water in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and the time that for their evening 

 drink. 



I was after Ovis ammon, the beast whom Kings- 

 ley termed " the father of all the flocks on earth." 

 And if the title is not his by right, he certainly 

 deserves it by courtesy, for in size and wariness 

 he surpasses all breeds of wild sheep, and seems 

 to have at his disposal the accumulated experience 

 and protective instincts of numberless generations ; 

 so that he who has fairly stalked and shot an 

 old ammon ram may truly be said to have gained 

 the blue ribbon of big game hunting. 



I had been for some days on ground where I 

 might find the sheep, and though I had come 

 on several lots of ewes, I had seen nothing of 

 rams but their tracks. My stalker was Siring 

 Namgyal of the ugly countenance, on whose face 

 it would be as difficult to discover a space without 

 wrinkles as on the horn of the sheep we were 

 after. He was a good hunter, however, and when 

 once I had got accustomed to a somewhat marked 

 aroma, and had allowed him to exhaust the tales 

 of his domestic quarrels he, with two other 

 brothers, after the custom of Ladak, had joint 



