82 JOURNEY TO THE PAMIRS. 



who constantly came over to hunt there having 

 been much sickness amongst the Ovis in their 

 own part, and scarcely any left. This epidemic, 

 they told us, occurs about once in twenty years, 

 and the reason it does not spread into the Tagh- 

 dumbash is, that the grass is so much better 

 and more plentiful than on the other Pamirs. 



The shikaris asked permission to shoot females 

 on the way. We did not much like the idea ; 

 but as we were more or less dependent on them, 

 we thought it well to keep them in good-humour, 

 and they started off in the middle of the night. 



As we got higher up the valley, there were a 

 lot of poli - heads lying about, mostly very fine 

 specimens, very few small ones, and hardly any 

 females. These, Barat explained, had been killed 

 by wolves. Being weak in the winter from 

 scarcity of food, those with heavy heads w r ere 

 easily run down, whereas the small rams and 

 females were able to hold their own. 



As we travelled over the foot-hills, we kicked 

 up a hare at almost every step, blue in colour, 

 like the Scotch mountain - hare. Our dogs- 

 Joker my black spaniel, and Waffles, a nonde- 

 script fox-terrier of Bower's were always on the 

 run. Needless to say, they never caught one, 



