From this section soon about thirty of forty head emerged and went scrambling and leaping right up the mountain side.

I took up my glasses and began to observe them.

The part of the herd that remained behind were common sheep; the large section that had drawn off over the plain were Mongolian antelopes (gazella gutturosa); while the few that had taken to the mountain were the big horned sheep (ovis argali).

All this company had been grazing together with the domestic sheep on the plains of the Adair, which attracted them with its good grass and clear water.

In many places the river was not frozen and in some places I saw great clouds of steam over the surface of the open water.