SHOOTING OVIS POLII ON THE PAMIRS. 55 



time to time they stopped and crowded together. One would canter 

 in front of the herd, another one would follow, and then the whole 

 herd went off — again in single file. As they were heading to the 

 snows it was useless to follow them, so I tried another place. Passing- 

 near two small lakes, in the middle of rather broken nullahs, I came 

 to a small river and higher up found a good patch of grass. Here 

 were tracks of the game, some quite fresh, and we began to look sharp 

 all round. Soon after a herd of about ten was seen at full gallop on a 

 ridge, and after they had disappeared I went to try and see where they 

 were going. Shortly after I saw them, twenty-five altogether. They 

 had stopped in a rather steep place and were just beginning to lie down. 

 I took the ponies down a nullah out of sight, and leaving them to feed 

 came back to my game. At once it was easy to see that it was 

 impossible to stalk them, but as there was no grass to be seen any- 

 where except where I was, I thought the best plan was to wait for them 

 to come and feed. As long as the arkars did not move, they were 

 out of reach, but at the first move they were bound either to go to 

 a place where they could be easily stalked, or to come towards me. 

 I crouched down and waited, watching the game until they should 

 move for their evening feed. It was then about half-past two. The 

 height was some 15,500 feet and the wind rather cold. All in front 

 of me and going right down the slope where the game was, was a 

 granite plateau, nearly level, with here and there small boulders, 

 about one or two feet high. I could plainly see the Ovis about 500 

 yards off. They were not sleeping, but kept their heads erect and from 

 time to time got up to stretch their legs, and then lay down again. 



At about half-past three, very far off, in the west, I saw 

 seven arkars on the snow. An inspection of the ground made me 

 think I had a better chance to get a shot at the first herd than at these 

 seven new comers, so I decided to leave them alone and came back 

 to my first place. There was something going on in the herd. One 

 female got up and stood motionless, then another, then a third, and in 

 about two minutes all were standing. They had a quiet look for about 

 three minutes and then began to come down-hill, right on my side. 



As there was a narrow little nullah right under the arkars, and as 

 they had to cross it to come nearer, I began to rise on ray knees and 

 creep towards them, keeping always the last of the herd in sight so 



