138 WANDEEINGS OF A 



districts, their dreary and desolate wastes are seldom disturbed 

 by man. 



The Houriar {Caprovis vignei) extends along the eastern 

 spurs of the Salt Mountains, but becomes less common as we 

 proceed eastwards, and, I believe, is seldom met with on the 

 ranges beyond the town of Jhelum, or southwards of the Beas 

 Eiver. Accordingly, in British India it is confined to the 

 north and western portions of the Punjaub, including the. 

 Suliman chain, where it is known by the name of Kuch. It 

 is also a denizen of the mountains around Peshawur, includ- 

 ing the Khyber Pass, Hindu Koh, and Kafi&ristan. The 

 shajpoo or shalmar* of Ladakh, if not identical, is certainly 

 very closely aUied ; its differences are slight, and, I opine, 

 such as might result in a great measure from the marked 

 diversity of climate, food, etc., of the two regions. This 

 species is no doubt the Sha of Tibet described by Vigne,t and 

 possibly the wild sheep of western Afghanistan, Persia, the 

 Caucasus, Armenian and Corsican mountains, is the same 

 species, altered mayhap by chmate and other external agen- 

 cies. I have not been enabled to fix with certainty the eastern 

 limits of the Shapoo, but as far as all my inquiries have yet 

 extended" it would seem that, commencing at Ladakh, it pro- 

 ceeds westward towards the Indus, into the regions where the 

 houriar is found, and probably when we are enabled to explore 

 these regions we shall find out the relation between what has 

 been supposed distinct, but which I am much inclined to 

 consider one and the same animal. There is considerable 

 variation with regard to the shape and curvature of horns in 



* " Habits of some of the Mammalia of India and Himalayas" (Proc. Zool. 

 Soe. 1858, p. 521). The name Shalmar I give on the authority of an English 

 officer who had shot the animal in Ladakh. 



+ Travels in Cashmir, etc. vol. ii. 280. 



