2 1 8 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



thoughts went drifting, was Siring Namgyal taking 

 alternate bites from his ball of tsampo and looks 

 through his telescope. 



A touch aroused ine, and I saw the shikari stand- 

 ing over me, his face wrinkled and distorted in a 

 way I recognised as indicative of extreme delight. 



"Abdus amarn ! " he whispered. This was his 

 best attempt at Ovis ammon, a name he must 

 have heard used by some previous traveller to 

 indicate the big sheep ! 



Far away, a faint irregularity of rather darker 

 colour than the rest of the ground was visible with 

 the binoculars. This the big spying-glass resolved 

 into a herd of eight ammon rams, lying down, 

 heads all facing up wind. Siring Namgyal had 

 seen one of them standing, which had since lain 

 down, and this had betrayed the herd ; otherwise 

 he might never have distinguished them from 

 stones, and we might have returned to camp 

 convinced that there was "not an ammon in the 

 whole country." 



Leaving the ponies with the guide, we started 

 on the stalk. Half a mile away to the left some 

 undulating ground gave hope of cover, but after 

 reaching it we found it would only bring us a part 

 of the way to our beasts, and from there onward 

 the ground was so level and the undulations so 

 gentle that we had to proceed doubled up. Hard 



