. The story of Marco Polo . Roof of the World ; it is thehighest level region to be found anywhere on theglobe. It is swept by cold winds, and even insummer the dry snow is driven across its surface. The great sheep of which Marco speaks are stillto be found there, and they have been named theOvis Poll, in honour of Marco Polo, who firstdescribed them. A pair of sheep horns, broughthome by Captain Wood, measured three feet fromtip to tip, and each horn was four feet and eightinches in length, following the curve of the animals are hunted by the Kirghiz who inhabit VI.] OV1S POLL 69 th
. The story of Marco Polo . Roof of the World ; it is thehighest level region to be found anywhere on theglobe. It is swept by cold winds, and even insummer the dry snow is driven across its surface. The great sheep of which Marco speaks are stillto be found there, and they have been named theOvis Poll, in honour of Marco Polo, who firstdescribed them. A pair of sheep horns, broughthome by Captain Wood, measured three feet fromtip to tip, and each horn was four feet and eightinches in length, following the curve of the animals are hunted by the Kirghiz who inhabit VI.] OV1S POLL 69 the lower steppes of that country; and Woodsnarrative says: We saw numbers of horns strewedabout in every direction, the spoils of the Kirghizhunter. Some of these were of an astonishinglylarge size, and belonged to an animal between agoat and a sheep, inhabiting the steppes of ends of the horn projecting above the snowoften indicated the direction of the road, which isprecisely what Marco has told us. Captain Wood,. OVIS POLL who crossed the Pamir in February, says, when-ever they came in sight of a large number of thesebig horns arranged in a semi-circle, they knew thatthere had been a summer encampment of the Kirghizhunters. What Marco says of the difficulty of cooking bya fire at a great height is entirely correct. Waterboils at a lower temperature on the top of a highmountain than it does in the plain at its foot. Theusual boiling-point is at 212 degrees, as every brightyoungster knows ; but on the tops of high mountains 70 THE STORY OF MARCO POLO. [Ch. water boils at 179 or 180, and men unused to socurious a phenomenon are puzzled to see the waterboiling, and the food remaining uncooked. Thepressure of the atmosphere is less on the mountaintop than it is in the plain, and the heat of the firecauses the boiling of the water more quickly at thegreater altitude. Water boils at the top of MountBlanc at a temperature of 185 degrees. MARCO TELLS A WONDERFUL STORY. Samar
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
