After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . er side, growing gradually lower as weadvanced, and turning eventually into an undulatingsteppe, through which, a few miles beyond the karaoul,flows the Suok River. That day we came acrossnumerous skulls of sheep strewing the ground, andnow and again piled up in heaps, for what purposewe could not imagine. Perhaps they were meantas an offering to the gods, corresponding to thecoloured ribbons hanging on trees in the Kalmukregion. None of these heads were worth picking spied several ewes on the surrounding slopes,but saw no rams. The weather w
After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . er side, growing gradually lower as weadvanced, and turning eventually into an undulatingsteppe, through which, a few miles beyond the karaoul,flows the Suok River. That day we came acrossnumerous skulls of sheep strewing the ground, andnow and again piled up in heaps, for what purposewe could not imagine. Perhaps they were meantas an offering to the gods, corresponding to thecoloured ribbons hanging on trees in the Kalmukregion. None of these heads were worth picking spied several ewes on the surrounding slopes,but saw no rams. The weather was lovely, the sunscorching hot, and I believe this was the warmestmarch we had during the entire trip. A few miles i7o AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI before reaching the karaoul we were met by halfa dozen Chinamen on horseback, all in the mostpicturesque costumes. We understood that they hadbeen sent by the head official, or Kha, to welcomeus in Chinese territory. They wore sheepskin-linedcoats of different colours, by no means tight-fitting. SKULLS OF SHEEP TILED UP IN HEAPS. breeches entering into Russian leather embroideredtop-boots with turned-up points at the toes, andvarious-shaped caps, over which coral beads denotedtheir respective ranks in Chinese hierarchy. One ofthese men, who appeared to be in command, worea silver belt around his waist with numerous trinketsattached to it, such as a pipe-case, a small box, a THE KARAOUL 171 bit of flint, etc., all silver mounted. This belt wasdestined later on to form the subject of long andunsuccessful bargaining between the Littledales and itsowner. The others also carried belts of lesser rifles, slung on their shoulders, were primitiveflint-locks. The length of their pig-tails was also inproportion to their rank. Naturally our conversationwas of the briefest description, though I several timesput questions about kotchkor, of which they seemedto be entirely ignorant. We now soon reached thekaraoul. It consisted of a f
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