CONTENTS ix 



PAGE 



Kashmir in a rongli setting— Inhabited by a microscopic but 

 hugely vicious fly — Wily niarkhor — Bad going — Mirza Khan 

 makes a slip — Long shots — Very dangerous ground — Rain and 

 snow in a tight camping-place — My rocky home — Cross the 

 same dangerous ground again — Mirza Khan makes another slip 

 — A bad two seconds on the brink of iirospective eternity — Bad 

 weather conquers — Markhor shooting ends .... 64 



CHAPTER VI 



IBEX SHOOTING 



Gluttony of my table-servant — Search for ibex — Grand view from a 

 peak — A successful stalk — And curious shot — Mirza Khan is 

 delighted — The Wazir is anxious for my safety — Suspect a con- 

 spiracy to frighten me — My servant's condition — -Yearning for 

 cooked food — Another unsuccessful hunt — A noisy camp — A 

 conflagration in a tight place — -Arrange for a hunt near the crest 

 of the range — Try my hand at ibex-curry — Filthy Kashmiri 

 habits — Limited quarters in a goat-shed — Bad weather beats us 

 again — Leave the ground — Mark down three huge bucks — The 

 stalk — Awkward jiosition for a shot — Hill-crows are pleased 

 — Very familiar and intelligent birds — Their manners and 

 customs — A letter from the Biinji commandant — My supplies 

 are stopped — Ibex shooting comes to an end — Square accounts 

 with Mirza Khan and company ....... 81 



CHAPTER VII 



BEAU SHOOTIXG 



Return to Bunji — A nervous Kashmiri^Tlie Indus and Kashmiri 

 boatmen — My raw table - servant — Reach Astor — Settling with 

 Rozi Khan and company — A bi-coloured stream — The Kashmir 

 army at drill — The commandant — The major — Attained his 

 majority before he was born — Reach Chhagam — Bad weather 

 and great discomfort — The Mi'r Malik valley — Flower-carpets — 

 Another difficult dining performance — Power of the evil eye — 

 Shoot a musk-deer— Effect of the "450 hollow bullet — The voice 

 of young Bruin betrays his mother — Maternal love — A long 

 stalk — Bag my first bear — A beautiful evening — A bear escapes 

 — Stalk two others — How they disported themselves — Bag only 

 one through a mistake — A splendid trophy — Proceed farther up 

 the valley — A magnified fox— Cross the pass — Sharafa slips, but 

 saves the rifle — In Giires again . . . . . . .101 



