114 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



had got to the other side of the ravine, about 130 yards off, when 

 I fired, only the bigger of the two being in sight. I had the old 12-bore 

 rifle in my hand, the Express being behind as a second rifle in case 

 I got more shots, as often can be done with ibex, and aiming steadily 

 I fired. The ibex bolted at once, and I could not fire the left 

 barrel, he having got into a hollow that hid him ; when he re-appeared 

 about 200 yards off, I fired two shots with the Express, but went 

 high, Nibra said. The herd made uphill, but the big one took 

 a downward course Once he slipped and staggered, and I exclaimed 

 " he is falling," but he recovered himself and went on, and Nibra 

 said I had missed him clean. He disappeared over the edge of a 

 cliff, and did not re-appear. I watched the others for a bit and then 

 asked where the big one was. They said he had not yet come out 

 of the ravine, and then exclaimed, "there he goes, not hit." He 

 climbed slowly along the face of the cliff, aud then pulled up on a 

 sloping rock, in full view of us, about 500 yards off. We were 

 watching him with our glasses, and all at once ejaculated "khun ! " 

 (blood); a great gush of blood was streaming down the rock from 

 him. He lay down for about five minutes, then painfully rose, walked 

 three or four yards, and lay down again, the blood crimsoning the 

 cliff beneath him. He was hit, and hit vitally and hard. Old Joe 

 Lang had gone straight as usual. We followed, but tbe ground was 

 so bad that we had not got to the cliff when darkness came on. It 

 was impossible to get further over such dangerous ground in the 

 dark, so we made ourselves uncomfortable for the night, under a yew- 

 tree, and lit a fire. At 2 A. m. a heavy thunderstorm came on, wetting 

 every stitch of our clothes in five minute?, and we passed the rest of 

 the night very miserably indeed, drying our steaming blankets and kit. 

 May 22nd — At daybreak, just as we were getting ready to start, 

 we heard a terrific crash from a precipice far overhead, and some 

 fifty tons of enormous stones came thundering down, several passing 

 right over us, so swiftly that only the whizz was heard, but the stones 

 not seen ; and soon after, a single stone plunged right in our midst, 

 ploughing a hole in the ground a foot deep and spinning on to the 

 river half a mile below I Having made tea, we proceeded to search 

 the precipices for the lost ibex -a w r earisome perilous quest, and 

 unsuccessful, the rain having washed off every stain that had yester- 

 day incarnadined the rocks, and obliterated every footprint in the 

 gravel and sand. Our only hope now is in the crows and vultures. 

 By watching them we may yet be guided to the place. 



