e Rocky
Mountains.

The desolate aspect of these territories makes a deep impression on the
imagination. As the train gains the higher altitudes, this impression
is all the more vivid. There are no towns, no villages--nothing but a
few scattered huts, in which the Pamirian lives a solitary existence
with his family, his horses, his herds of yaks, or "koutars," which are
cattle with horses' tails, his diminutive sheep, his thick-haired
goats. The moulting of these animals, if we may so phrase it, is a
natural consequence of the climate, and they change the dressing gown
of winter for the white fur coat of summer. It is the same with the
dog, whose coat becomes whiter in the hot season.

As the passes are ascended, wide breaks in the ranges yield frequent
glimpses of the more distant portions of the plateau. In many places
are clumps of birches and junipers, which are the principal trees of
the Pamir, and on the undulating plains grow tamarisks and sedges and
mugwort, and a sort of reed very abundant by the sides of the saline
pools, and a dwarf labiate called "terskenne" by the Kirghizes.

The major mentioned certain animals which constitute a somewhat varied
fauna on the heights of the Pamir. It is even necessary to keep an eye
on the platforms of the cars in case a stray panther or bear might seek
a ride without any right to travel either first or second class. During
the day our companions were on the lookout from both ends of the cars.
What shouts arose when plantigrades or felines capered along the line
with intentions that certainly seemed suspicious! A few revolver shots
were discharged, without much necessity perhaps, but they amused as
well as reassured the travelers. In the afternoon we were witnesses of
a magnificent shot, which killed instantly an enormous panther just as
he was landing on the side step of the third carriage.

"It is thine, Marguerite!" exclaimed Caterna. And could he have better
expressed his admiration than in appropriating the celebrated reply of
Buridan to the Dauphine's wife--and not the queen of France, as is
wrongly stated in the famous drama of the _Tour de Nesle_?

It was our superb Mongol to whom we were indebted for this marksman's
masterpiece.

"What a hand and what an eye!" said I to the major, who continued to
look on Faruskiar with suspicion.

Among the other animals of the Pamirian fauna appeared wolves and
foxes, and flocks of those large wild sheep with gnarled and g