2 4 THE FRONTIER DISTRICT OF ASTOR 



all the game within reach. He bides his time, and when 

 a certain opportunity occurs, he bags the biggest markhor 

 or ibex on the hill. But he has not been mentally 

 measuring the splendid horns, or stroking the flowing 

 beard of the patriarch of the flock ; his one idea is meat, 

 accordingly he singles out the largest animal. He may 

 become possessed of the most splendid trophy, but his first 

 act is to smash the horns with his hatchet, split open the 

 skull, and throw the brains on the blazing logs of his 

 camp fire ; that is his honne louche for dinner. The 

 remains of the head and horns find their resting-place at 

 the bottom of the glen — to be picked up years after, perhaps, 

 by the casual Saxon, who sighs over the lost splendour of 

 " the largest horns he ever saw." 



The markhor is an ungainly animal : his long back and 

 disproportionately short legs rather detract from his 

 appearance as a game-looking beast ; his shaggy coat and 

 long hair, which conceal the upper portions of his limbs, 

 make his ungainliness more conspicuous. Even in his gait 

 he is not graceful, but none can deny his wonderful activity 

 among the rocks and precipices of his favourite haunts. 

 A venerable buck, standing solitary on a rock, con- 

 templating the world below him, will make the blood of 

 the most hlasd tingle in his veins ; or a herd of long-bearded 

 seniors, gravely crossing a patch of snow, perhaps just out 

 of range, is a sight that will recur to mind for many a 

 year after. And the amount of fatigue and labour it will 

 cost you to bring a forty-incher to bay will certainly 

 inspire you with a wholesome respect for the markhor's 

 sense of smell and vision, and for his alertness. 



Kinloch says (Sterndale, page 443): "The markhor 

 inhabits the most difficult and inaccessible ground, 

 where nearly perpendicular faces of rock alternate with 

 steep grassy slopes and patches of forest. It is very shy 



