120 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



planned to follow, I must now say a few words about 

 the topography of Kashmir, and the kinds of game 

 the pursuit of which had led us into this magnificent 

 country. To begin with, there are two great divi- 

 sions of Kashmir territory which chiefly attract 

 the sportsman : namely, Ladak and Baltistan, the 

 former of which occupies roughly an easterly, and 

 the latter a northerly, position in relation to the 

 Valley of Kashmir itself, and both cut off from it by 

 some of the highest chains of all the Himalayas. Of 

 these two provinces, Ladak undoubtedly offers the 

 greater variety of game, possessing not only the ibex, 

 sharpu, and red bear of Baltistan, but also the Tibe- 

 tan antelope and gazelle, the burhel, and above all, 

 the ovis ammon, that great wild sheep resembling 

 the Rocky Mountain big-horn, and surpassed in 

 size of body and length and weight of horn only by 

 the famous ovis poll of the Russian Pamirs. In Bal- 

 tistan, on the other hand, one finds by far the biggest 

 ibex in the world, and, besides the red bear and 

 sharpu or urial, one runs the chance of shooting a 

 markhor, the largest and most magnificent of all the 

 goat tribe, which in itself is a trophy making well 

 worth while any amount of trouble taken in its pur- 

 suit. Now to attempt to shoot through both of these 

 countries in three months, the amount of time at our 

 disposal, would have been quite impracticable, and 



