MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 933 



of June it would make their birth about the beginning of May. The little things 

 skipped about on a narrow shelf, over-hanging a precipice of a thousand feet, 

 dislodging as they did so small stones that went hurling down into the canon 

 reverberating like pistol shots. It took four Garhwal coolies a long time to 

 recover the carcase of the Tahr, for the animal when shot went sliding down a 

 moraine, and was only pulled up in the nick of time by a rock on the brink 

 from going over a sheer drop of 2,000 feet. 



While I cut off the head of the Tahr, the Garhwalies took out the liver and 

 entrails and proceeded there and then to cook them, one man producing a 

 pan from his voluminous blanket, while another ran for snow, a third going 

 down to an old shepherd's hut, which we had passed on the way up, for sticks. 

 I found the Tahr covered with ticks, but in good condition, though the flesh 

 smelt so highly of old goat that I did not fancy the delicacy myself. 



The callous patch on the breast was strongly marked and I should fancy 

 that on the Dunga Bukail the Tahr seldom find space enough to lie down in 

 the ordinary manner or able to stretch their legs out in a recumbent position. 



While waiting for the coolies to bring up the dead Tahr I should have dozed 

 off had I dared, the fact being that there was no level ground and no resting 

 place broader than a foot, and the thought of rolling off into eternity should 

 one move whilst sleeping, kept my eyes open. 



The Garhwalies are fearless cragsmen, but terribly in awe of the Black Bear 

 ( Ursus tibetanus). On one occasion the shikari took me to a bluff above a 

 clearing in which we had spied a bear feeding and wanted me to shoot, 

 although it was quite 700 yards distant. Our real course should have been down 

 the ridge which would have brought me right on to the top of the bear, but I 

 think the shikari was a bit nervous and was quite contented to remain at a 

 long range. We could not descend the bluff and had to retrace our steps, and 

 so lost the chance of a shot at the beast. His stories too of their fierceness 

 were many, and this dread of them I found general all through Garhwal and 

 Kumaon. 



While on my way down from Garhwal on the return journey, I met a 

 coolie striding along with a load on his back and wearing a remarkable plate 

 on his face ; guessing from his action however that he was not suffering from 

 leprosy, I stopped him and asked him the meaning of it. He informed me 

 that some years ago a bear rushed out on him while he was cutting grass and 

 had torn his face open and destroyed the nose, at the same time biting and 

 breaking his arm. The headman of the village had bound up his arm which 

 had healed up and except that it was a bit crooked, was otherwise normal, the 

 village blacksmith making the plate he was wearing on his face. This plate was 

 of copper with a triangular piece of metal (seemingly tin) riveted on with four 

 copper rivets to the plate, forming a nose. The plate was kept in its place 

 by a couple of brass wires that went round the back of the ears similar 

 to spectacles. The teeth in his upper jaw appeared just below the copper plate 

 giving the poor fellow a somewhat forbidding appearance. 



