After Antelope in Tibet 227 



Not many years ago this particularly grace- 

 ful beast could be seen in large herds in the 

 Chang Chenmo and adjacent valleys of Ladak 

 on the northern Kashmir frontier; but of late 

 they have been driven eastward, till now they 

 are scarcely found to the west of the Tibetan 

 border ; while to see them roaming the plain 

 in any considerable numbers one has to travel 

 far into the forbidden country, and reach a 

 land inaccessible to mere globe-trotters and such- 

 like unleisured persons. 



Every one has heard how the Tibetan ante- 

 lope scrapes for himself a hole in the ground, 

 in which he lies so still that his long slender 

 horns look like dry willow shoots sticking out 

 of the ground; and it was only this morning 

 that my wife had pointed out with delight 

 three little beds in the sand, side by side a 

 big one, a smaller one, and a very diminutive 

 one, evidently the resting-place during the night 

 of some "papa, maman, et bebe" of the timid 

 wilderness folk. 



As our long line of laden ponies toiled along 

 in the rear, we began that morning to ascend 

 knolls and elevated spots, from which we could 

 look out and examine the plain with our glasses. 

 Though the upper air was clear, with that won- 

 derful dry clearness only found in the high 



