CHAPTEE III 



MAEKHOK SHOOTING 



Start for mavklior ground— Tragic tale of " Blinp Singh's Parlii"— My 

 shooting establishment— My first stalk— Dangerous ground— Firing 

 down a precipice— A good shot — Bag my first niarkhor— Another hunt — 

 Mysterious niarkhor, not approachable- Leave Garai nahi— Weak-eyed 

 Khushal Khan— Bad road— A travelling bear— Kashmiri system of 

 road-making- The Maharajah's sappers and miners— A heart-breaking 

 road— Two Sappers of the Kashmir Engineers in very bad case— 

 Ramghat and its bridge— The guard in chaige— Pass a bad night— The 

 Bunji plain — Good iirin ground — Bunji — The commandant of the fort 

 — He makes a lucky mistake— Cross the Indus— Reach Damot village — 

 A pleasant spot — Wazir Bughdor Shah. 



I LEFT Astur at a quarter-past five in the morning on the 

 3rd May, and after a long inarch came to the Garai nala, 

 and camped some distance up. This was the place said 

 to contain large markhor. It looked promising, but I did 

 not believe tliat large horns were to be found here. 

 Sharafa told me the story of " Bhiip Singh's Parhi," or 

 rock. This is a large flat rock on the road from Bunji to 

 Gilgit, on the Gilgit river. It overhangs the bank, and a 

 large number of men can obtain shelter under it. Bhiip 

 Singh was a colonel in Giilab Singh's service, and had a 

 thousand men under his command, whom he was taking 

 to Gilgit. He camped under the flat rocks for the night ; 

 next morning he found himself blocked up in this rat-trap 

 by three Diird brothers — rebels. These three brave men 



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