386 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XTIT.. 
three very-good-looking children were playing about, and soon a squall from 
a cloth-covered box, which IT had been making use of to lean against, 
proclaimed it a cradle containing a baby. Before long noises outside: 
announced the arrival of the flocks and herds, and two sons of the old man, 
the shepherds of the family, entered, and at once tackled the bowl of curds, 
At last Dhe Khan himself turned up, bringing, rather to my surprise and to» 
Rakhmat’s great disgust, his two dogs in with him. As soon as he had had 
something to eat I questioned him on the subject of shikar, It was am 
excellent time of the year, he said, and O. polz were plentiful. Asto whether F 
was likely to see any big heads, that, of course, was entirely a matter of 
“kismet.” My baggage at last arrived, and Rakhmat and the young men 
went out to pitch my tents, while my other servants and the yak drivers- 
were brought inside and fed. 
Next morning, accompanied by Dhe Khan,we did a short march up the 
valley and encamped at the junction of two nullas, both of which I was: 
informed generally held O, poli. On the way we found numbers of old heads- 
lying about, and I dismounted and measured any that looked big, Fifty-seven 
inches was the size of the largest I saw, and I may mention that among the 
hundreds of old heads I inspected during my stay on the Pamirs very few of: 
them measured much more than this, the best being 63in.. Most of these heads 
were evidently those of beasts which had been killed by wolves, or had been 
carried off by one of the epidemics of disease, which, I believe, occasionally 
visit the Pamirs, Those shot by natives could be easily recognised by the part. 
of the skull below the eyes having been chopped off, and these heads were 
generally quite small ones, I do-not think that the local shikaris shoot many 
big rams: all those I talked to told me that they shot very many more females: 
than males, 
Dhe Khan had insisted on bringing his three dogs with him, and as he 
said they were perfectly trained and would. not be in the way, while they 
wouldsave us a.lot of trouble if any beast went off wounded,.I had allowed: 
him to do so; 
It was terribly cold when I was called next morning, but, with the prospect. 
before me of sighting my first O. poli, it did not take me long. to get out of my 
sleeping bag and into my clothes. I found Dhe Khan and Rakhmat waiting 
for me, both looking like immense bundles of cloth and sheepskin, They had 
three riding yaks. ready, but, heavily clothed. as I was, I felt that I should 
never get warm unless I walked, so handed my yak over to’ Rakhmat to lead. 
After going for four or five miles up the nulla onthe left, and seeing nothing 
but a couple of herds of ibex, Dhe Khan called a halt, and said that there 
Was no use going on, as there was no more 0. poli ground beyond what we could 
see, I believed him at the time, but now, after some experience of the Pamir 
shixaris, I imagine that the real objection to going further up the nulla was. 
the deep snow, which.would have necessitated a good deal of hard work., 
