THROUGH ASIA 
ISO 
the wolves go up to the Pamirs, and range the districts 
around Lake Kara-kul, preying principally upon the 
magnificent arkhari or argali {Ovis Poll), i.e., the wild 
sheep of Central Asia, as well as upon the kiyick (goat) 
and hares. In hunting the wild sheep the wolves display 
remarkable craft and intelligence. Having enclosed the 
sheep in a wide ring, they begin to howl, so as to make 
their presence known, and gradually close in upon their 
prey. When they get near enough, they cut off two or 
three of the sheep and force them to take refuge on a 
narrow, outjutting crag, from which there is no return 
except into their jaws. If the crag is too steep for them 
to scale it, they patiently wait at the bottom until the 
wild sheep’s slender legs become numbed from sheer 
weariness, and they roll down the precipice into the jaws 
of their ravenous persecutors. In the vicinity of Kara-kul 
we often saw Mocks of arkhari quietly grazing a couple 
of miles from us. The Kirghiz used to discover them 
at a marvellous distance, so far off in fact that I, with 
my most powerful field -glass, could only just discern 
something of their movements. In various parts of the 
Pamirs travellers come across their skulls, bleached 
by the sun and still adorned with their huge curled 
horns. These are no doubt the sole remains of wolves’ 
feasts. 
According to the Kirghiz, two wolves can sometimes 
be dangerous to a solitary man. They told me many 
blood-curdling stories about wolves and their depredations 
up in those lofty regions of Asia. A few years ago a 
man was attacked and killed by wolves in the pass of 
Talldik, and when a day or two afterwards the Kirghiz 
went to fetch down his body, there was nothing left 
except the bare skeleton. On another occasion a 
Kirghiz perished in a buran in the Kizil-art pass. A 
week later the man’s corpse was found in the snow ; but 
the horse which he rode had been entirely devoured 
by wolves. Only the previous winter one of my Kirghiz 
guides and a jighit (Sart messenger) were surrounded 
by a dozen wolves. Fortunately they were armed, and 
