CHAPTER XX. 



THE THIBETAN ANTELOPE. 



Pantholops Hodgsonii. 

 In Thibet. — Tsoos — Clwos. 



So far as we know, Thibetan Antelope are never found near the habitations of man, but 

 frequent the plains and elevated valleys far above the limits of cultivation, where few human 

 beings, save occasional wandering shepherds, ever disturb them. 



The most accessible country to sportsmen where the Thibetan Antelope is to be found, 

 is Chung Chenmo, a desolate valley to the north of the Pangong lakes. In this valley, and 

 in those of the streams which flow down to it from the spurs of the Kara Koram mountains, 

 Antelope are usually plentiful ; and they are also to be met with all over the lofty plateau 

 which has to be crossed on the road to Yarkund. A few have been shot in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Mansarovara lake near the north-western frontier of Nipal, but there are great 

 difficulties in the way of getting there, the Thibetans jealously excluding all foreigners. 



The Thibetan Antelope is considerably larger than the Indian Antelope, and somewhat 

 more heavily made ; its remarkably thick coat of closely set brittle hairs also tending to 

 increase its apparent bulk. The color is a light fawn, varying in shade on different parts of 

 the body, and tending almost to white in old buck. The legs are dark colored, and the faces 

 of very old males are nearly black. 



The muzzle is very curious ; instead of being fine and compressed, as is the case with 

 most deer and antelope, it is considerably enlarged and puffy-looking ; so much so, that 

 properly stuffed heads are generally supposed by persons unacquainted with the animal, to 

 be failures of the taxidermist. 



The horns are perhaps the most graceful of those of any antelope : set close together at 

 the base they diverge in an easy curve for about two-thirds of their length, and then con- 

 verging more abruptly, approach each other, in some specimens, within three or four inches 

 at the tips. 



Out of twenty-five that I have shot, I have never seen a pair above twenty-four and a 

 half inches, but considerably longer specimens are to be obtained, and I have recently heard 

 of a pair twenty-eight and a half inches. The horns are jet black, of very fine grain, with a 

 small central core, and being deeply notched on their anterior surface, they form perfect knife- 

 handles and sword-hilts. 



