266 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



way these animals are hunted : " When pursued by 

 horsemen and dogs and on the point of being taken, 

 it hides its hindquarters in some bush and there 

 waits for its enemies, imagining perhaps that if it 

 could conceal its tail, which it considers perhaps as 

 the object they are in search of it for, it will 

 escape unhurt." 



Would I were able to describe the manner in 

 which I participated in so picturesque a scene, but 

 this I fear is impossible, for several reasons. Since, 

 however, I have essayed to write about yak, I will 

 attempt to describe a day in pursuit of this quad- 

 ruped as it actually happened, and since there can 

 be few ladies who have been at the death of a 

 Tibetan dong, it shall be a day on which I was 

 accompanied by my wife. 



Scene, a camp amid rolling mountains, 15,000 

 feet above sea-level. By the light of the morning 

 star a man and a woman emerge from their tent 

 with the absence of conversation that character- 

 ises very early rising, scramble on ponies, and 

 with two pig-tailed men similarly mounted put 

 their steeds at a mountain-side whose crest-line 

 is dimly outlined against the stars. Day breaks, 

 and they are still climbing upwards. The scree 

 is steep and rough going ; the air is cold though 

 little enough of it and they try walking. By 

 the time the crest -line is reached the country 



