After Antelope in Tibet 237 



spotting " pale-coloured animals " which appeared 

 to be " climbing up the hill." That too large 

 a proportion of these turned out to be of the 

 " sandstone " or " conglomerate " variety, I would 

 not venture to assert, but somehow the things 

 she pointed out on the hillsides came to be re- 

 ferred to as " pale climbers " (as opposed to ante- 

 lope), which was no doubt an absolutely unjust 

 reflection on her eyesight. 



We were riding as usual some way ahead of 

 the caravan, when my eye caught sight of a 

 light sandy-coloured object on the side of a hill 

 which lay to one side of the track we were 

 following. It seemed too light a colour for an an- 

 telope, but then again it did not look like a stone, 

 though it was quite motionless. If I had been 

 by myself I should have used my glasses without 

 a second's thought ; but I had been talking about 

 "pale climbers," which made it difficult. The 

 wife had her eye on it I could see, but a similar 

 reticence on the matter seemed to overcome her 

 too, so we proceeded in silence. 



After going a little way, when my thoughts had 

 drifted to something else, she suddenly remarked : 

 "Well, I'm not going to blunder on to an ante- 

 lope and pretend it's a stone, if you are," and 

 dropping the reins on her pony's neck she forth- 

 with took a survey through her glasses. It was, 



