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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 391 
we hauled it out. This spill was rather amusing at the time, but the bruises 
I got from it bothered me for some days after, 
Two or three days after this I got another O. poli, We were on the march 
when we came on a large flock of between fifty and sixty rams, They were 
moving slowly up the hill, having seen our little caravan. Directing the 
servants with the baggage to goon fora couple of miles, and then pitch the 
tents, I and the shikaris dropped behind and watched the O, polit. The 
latter stood gazing at the baggage animals till out of sight, and then lay 
down, They evidently had not noticed that we had stopped behind, It was 
two or three hours before they got up again, and, though I had had the tele- 
scope on them the wholetime, I could hardly make up my mind as to whether 
there was a shootable ram in the lot or not. It is extremely difficult te 
judge the size of O.:poli horns, almost impossible unless one gets a straight 
front or back view, so that to carefully examine every one of the sixty rams 
took some time. At last I made out a good head, but how to get at the owner 
of it was the question, The rams were now grazing and covered a large extent 
of ground, the fellow I wanted being somewhere near the middle of the flock. 
However, they settled the matter for us by suddenly taking the alarm. What 
frightened them I cannot think, but they made off up the hill again 
They started off in a mass like a flock of sheep, but they soon settled into 
single file, and having kept the telescope on the big one the whole time I saw 
that he was leading. They were going quite slowly and coming slightly in 
our direction, and at last were hidden bya ridge. If they would only give me 
time to get to that ridge 1 might get a shot, but it was a long way off, and it 
seemed very hopeless. However, I thought I would havea try,so started 
off with Rakhmat and the Kirghiz. It was a steep pull up, and it had to be 
done as quickly as possible. I noticed that Rakhmat was feeling the rarefied 
air a great deal, and that, though he could always leave me standing on the 
hills in his own country, he seemed to have a good deal of difficulty in keep- 
ing up here. However, I may mention that long before we left the Pamirs 
he got accustomed to the air, and soon showed me the way again. 
On arriving at last at the ridge there were the O. poli on the opposite side of 
the ravine, still moving slowly up-hill in single file. It wasa long shot, but a 
O.polt ram is a big mark,and they showed up very well against the yellow earth 
they were on. Putting the Lynam at 400 yards, and, taking every advantage 
of a comfortable position and a rest, I fired at the leader. “Just under his 
belly” called out Rakhmat, who had the glasseson him, The rams now 
stood still, unable, I suppose, to localise the report, To the next shot, which 
ITaimed higher up on the beast, Rakhmat called “Hit!’’ The flock now 
started off at a good pace, and Rakhmat told me that the big one was still 
leading. Another shot was also a hit according to Rakhmat, and the rams 
topped a ridge and were out of sight. To me the big one had shown no signs 
af being touched, but Rakhmat, who I knew was uncommonly sharp at mark- 
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