SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 151 



glen or ravine, high up at a point of vantage where a clear 

 view may be had. The " beaters " then traverse the opposite 

 side, hurling down rocks and making a great noise. This 

 startles the animal, which then skulks along the ledges, through 

 the brush until driven out on to bare cliff. If there is any 

 possible ledge it will descend almost vertical cliffs, dropping 

 easily 18 or 20 feet from ledge to ledge. Excellent rifle-shooting 

 is afforded by this beast if only the beaters can be kept 

 sufficiently out of the way of danger. 



My companion, Mr. Zappey, enjoyed good sport after these 

 Goral, and secured several specimens. The illustration (p. 152) 

 shows an adult male and female and a young male shot by 

 him in the western end of the Ichang Gorge during January 

 1908. 



This same Goral is common to all the gorges, and in the 

 long, gloomy, and forbidding Wushan Gorge it occurs in plenty. 

 As an example of luck and good shooting I give the following 

 experience : — 



On our journey up river to west Szechuan in late March 

 igo8 we were sailing up through the Wushan Gorge enjoying 

 a moderately strong, fair wind, and were just off the hamlet 

 of Nanmu-yuan. My companion, Mr. Zappey, was seated on 

 the prow of the boat, and with his field-glasses scanning the 

 cliffs from time to time. " This looks ideal country for Goral," 

 he said to me, standing near him ; " has anyone ever seen them 

 hereabouts? " "I don't know, but there is no record of anyone 

 having shot one," I replied. Scarcely had the words left 

 my mouth when Zappey quietly said, " There's one ! " He 

 rushed into the cabin and secured his rifle ; meanwhile the 

 crew shortened sail. The animal stood under the lee of a 

 cliff some 500 feet above the river ; it was about 4.30 in the 

 afternoon. There was considerable weigh on the boat, and 

 Zappey's first shot struck a little above and in front of the 

 Goral, and the beast scarcely heeded it. The second shot was 

 again a little high, and immediately in front, and the animal 

 swung round, ran a few yards, and then stopped, half facing us. 

 The third shot found its mark ; the soft-nosed bullet passed 

 anglewise through the jugular vein far into the body, and the 

 Goral sank stone dead in his tracks. It was a pretty shot, and, 



