, round, elegantly curved horns and
is somewhat larger than the wild sheep of Tibet. The wolves chase Marco
Polo's sheep by a cunningly devised method. They hunt up a herd and
single out some less cautious or less quick-footed member. This animal
is forced by a watch posted ready beforehand to take refuge on a
projecting rock which is surrounded by wolves. If they can get up to the
sheep they take him easily, but if not, they wait till his legs give way
with weariness and he falls into the jaws of his pursuers.

Many a time I have met wolves in various parts of Asia, and many sheep,
mules, and horses of mine have they destroyed. How often has their
dismal howl sounded outside my tent, as though they were calling for my
flesh and blood!

We had ridden 300 miles when we came to a small Russian frontier fort
which rears its simple walls on the middle of the "Roof of the World,"
beside one of the headwaters of the Amu-darya. On the other side of the
frontier lies the Eastern Pamir, in the dominion of the Emperor of
China.

"THE FATHER OF ICE-MOUNTAINS"

Wherever one may be in the Eastern Pamir one sees the Mus-tagh-ata, the
"Father of Ice-Mountains," rear its rounded summit above all the other
peaks (see map, p. 56). Its height is 25,800 feet, and accordingly it is
one of the loftiest mountains in the world. On its arched crest snow
collects, and its under layers are converted by pressure into ice. The
mountain is therefore crowned by a snow-covered ice-cap. Where there are
flat hollows round the summit, in these also snow is piled up as in
bowls. It glides slowly down with its own weight, and by pressure from
above is here also converted into ice. Thus are produced great tongues
of ice, which move downwards exceedingly slowly, perhaps only a few
yards in the year. They are enclosed between huge steep ridges, from
which time after time gravel and blocks of stone fall down on to the ice
and are carried down to lower levels. The further the ice descends the
warmer becomes the air, and then the ice melts in the sun. As it melts
below, the stream of ice is forced down from above, so that its lowest
margin is always to be found in the same place. The gravel and boulders
are brought down thither and piled up together so as to form great
mounds and ridges, which are called moraines. The ice-stream itself is
called a glacier. Many such tongues of ice fringe Mus-tagh-ata on all
sides. They are several miles long and half a mil