278 WANDERINGS OF A 



my friend Captain Peyton during, the spring of 1854 He 

 informed me that he found them tu herds, chiefly on low hills, 

 and almost invariably in the open places, where an old ram 

 was always on the alert when the remainder were l3dng 

 down. Its- alarm consists of a loud whistle, which, as in 

 the case of the other wild species, is the signal for instant 

 departure. They vxm at great speed. Lieutenant Smith, 

 75th regiment, informed me that he attempted to run down a 

 wounded Ovis ammon with Persian hounds, but with no 

 success, as the dogs became breathless in a short time, he 

 supposed from want of water, but in all probability from the 

 high altitude, as the locality was at least 14,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Besides, from the stony nature of the 

 mountains, they soon become footsore. I have seen enor- 

 mous horns of the Ovis ammon on the chaits, where, I 

 believe, the iinest are to be procured. These cairns are mostly 

 made up of horns, of tame yak, wild sheep, and goats, which 

 are piled up in the shape of a cone, with stones, pieces of 

 quartz, pebbles, and sticks, to which rags are attached. They 

 are considered to be the abodes of spirits, and when a Tartar 

 arrives at one, he walks round it several times, repeating a 

 prayer, of which the everlasting " Om mani Padmi om" 

 forms the chief part. An adult male argali stands about 12| 

 hands high at the shoulders. The horns of the female seldom 

 exceed 20 iaches in length, and are flat, narrow, and curve 

 backwards. The horns of a ram's skull, taken off a chait 

 near Tooskee, measured 39J inches around the curve ; but 

 specimens much larger have been procured. 



The sous or Tibetan antelope* (Pantholops hodgsonii) rarely 

 comes so far south as Tooskee Lake ; its favourite haunts are 

 among the lofty ranges northwards, where, according to my in- 



" For a full descriplion of this animal, see Jour. As. Soc. 1846. 



