THE GREAT THIBETAN SHEEP, OR NYAN. 171 



The horns of this sheep are enormously massive in proportion to its size, and an old 

 ram's head is the trophy most anxiously coveted by the Himalayan hunter, and very often 

 longed for in vain. I believe horns have been found upwards of fifty inches in length and 

 twenty-four in circumference; I have never had the good fortune to bag a specimen approach- 

 ing these dimensions, though I once wounded and lost a splendid ram whose horns were much 

 finer than any others that I have ever seen, and probably were not very far short of fifty 

 inches. The average size of a full-grown ram's horns may be stated at about forty inches 

 by seventeen. 



The female is not much inferior to the male in size, but she has small horns, seldom 

 exceeding twenty-four inches in length. She is darker-colored than the male, and may often 

 be distinguished, when too far to see the horns, by the dark hue of her neck. 



The legs of this sheep are long and deer-like, and I fancy that very few animals excel 

 it in speed. The flesh, like that of all Thibetan ruminants, is excellent ; it is always tender, 

 even on the day it is killed, and of very good flavor, possibly caused by the aromatic herbs 

 which constitute so large a portion of the scanty vegetation of those arid regions. 



Old rams are most difficult to find in the summer months, being apparently most fasti- 

 dious in their selection of ground, where one would think there was but little choice. 

 Females and young males may be met with day after day, while the old rams remain 

 invisible until by some happy chance their feeding grounds are discovered. I know one or 

 two small valleys where rams may always be found, while I have tramped over the surround- 

 ing hills for many a weary mile in every direction without even finding a trace of their 

 presence. 



I have hunted most kinds of large game in India and Thibet, and after a lengthened 

 experience, I can unhesitatingly affirm, that there is no animal so difficult to stalk as a male 

 Nyan. This is of course partly attributable to the open nature of the country it inhabits, 

 but still more to the extraordinary watchfulness of the animal and the high development of 

 all its senses of perception. To quote the words of ' Mountaineer' in the " Summer Ramble 

 in the Himalayas" (about the best book on the subject that has ever been published) when 

 the successful hunter at length " runs up to a fallen beast, lifts up his enormous head, and 

 surveys the ponderous horns, he may rest assured that he has gained the highest step in the 

 art of deer-stalking." 



Some sportsmen, including such a good hunter as the late General Markham, have 

 gone so far as to say that stalking these sheep is out of the question, and that driving them 

 is the only plan by which success can be insured. This, however, is a mistake ; and although 

 no one can expect to be almost invariably successful in his stalks (as a recent writer in The 

 Field stated that he was), there is no doubt that, by the exercise of sound judgment and great 

 patience, combined with the physical qualifications necessary for the endurance of consider- 

 able exposure to weather and much hard work, the Nyan may be fairly stalked and shot. 



To be successful, the hunter should not spare himself, but should be out early and home 

 late, and perfectly content, if necessary, to lie for hours on the hard stones, with a wind such 

 as is only experienced in Thibet, penetrating the very marrow of his bones. 



