152 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



from the motion of the boat, not an easy one. But the good 

 fortune did not end here. This Gorge is some 30 miles long, 

 and throughout its entire length there are scarcely half a dozen 

 places where it is possible to scale the cliffs to any height 

 above high-water mark. This was one of the few places ! 

 Willing feet rushed up the cliffside, and in about twenty minutes 

 the Goral was landed on deck. It proved to be a fine male. 

 Our crew were delighted, and the incident afforded them 

 conversation for days. They did not allow the result of my 

 companion's prowess to remain at one trophy. By the time 

 we reached Chungking, rumour, having fleet wings, had 

 reported a bag of five ! The fact will probably form the basis 

 for a legend in these parts, in which at least a score of Goral 

 will be substituted for this solitary trophy. 



The " Ichang Goral " {NcBinorhedus henryanus), as it 

 may be styled, has the sides of the body dark greyish ; whole 

 of the tail, front part of upper fore-leg, and line down centre of 

 back, blackish ; fore and hind legs from knee and hock to hoof, 

 light chestnut ; and throat-patch, pale buff. The largest male 

 shot by Zappey gave the following measurements : length, 

 464 inches ; tail, 4f inches ; height at shoulder, 2/\\ inches. 



Returning from Tachienlu on 30th September 1908 Mr. 

 Zappey secured two of the " Grey Thibetan Goral " [N. griseus). 

 Here is his account from a letter he wrote me immediately 

 afterwards : "At Liuyang, some 10 miles below Tachienlu, I 

 got two Goral on the cliffs across the torrent with one shot. 

 The bullet passed through the neck of one and through the body 

 of the other. I only saw one when I fired ; both dropped stone 

 dead. It was a hard and difficult job retrieving them, taking 

 us nearly two hours climbing and circumventing cliffs. This 

 Goral differs from those secured in the Gorges in being much 

 lighter in colour all over — the legs are light creamy buff instead of 

 light chestnut ; the head is dull grey with a black line from top 

 of eye to the horns ; the throat is very light coloured." The 

 largest, a female, gave the following measurements : — total 

 length, 51 J^ inches ; tail, 4f inches ; height at shoulder, 25^5- 

 inches. The animal is rather larger than the Ichang Goral, 

 but the tail is the same length. 



On the cliffs bordering the Tung River near the base of Wa 



