'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎183] (216/360)

LAST MONTHS AT KERMAN 183
Kupayeh Range rose like a long jagged plateau, frowning
down upon our tents. As my brother was after wild
sheep during this trip, and these animals frequent the
lower ground, while the ibex choose the most inaccessible
parts for their haunts, I was able to accompany him
into a world of brilliantly coloured mud hills, with con
glomerate cropping out of their sides. Among these a few
herds of goats were feeding, and one day, as we were
up aloft, far above them, we heard the most blood-curdling
yells. Our shikarchi^ looking keenly down into the valley,
announced that a wolf had just carried off a goat, the boy
in charge of the herd waking the echoes with his cries to
such an extent that it was difficult to believe that he him
self was not the victim. It was wonderful to see the agility
of these huntsmen. In long, blue cotton blouses, sheep
skin jackets, and their legs bound in puttis, they ran up
and down the hills in search of the game, grievously
disappointed to find nothing. We kept below in the
valley for the most part, and one could not but remark
on the great silence in these barren mountains. Not an
insect was to be seen, save perhaps a beetle or two;
occasionally a vulture hovered over our heads ; and some
times near the brackish streams, which looked as if
icebound, such broad belts of salt lay on their banks, a
small covey of partridges would fly up. I came upon
bleached tortoise-shells, and here and there the quills of
a porcupine, but of wild sheep there seemed to be none,
and our shikarchis got quite in despair, and gloomily
squatted near us for a rest after all their efforts. Suddenly,
almost as if they were close to us, instead of being about a
quarter of a mile away, so clearly could we see them in the
pure atmosphere, a herd of six or eight moufflon sprang