40 MARKHOR SHOOTING 



again ; they were much lower down on the ridge we were 

 on, and we had to watch them for a couple of hours, as 

 they were restless and could not decide upon a place for 

 their mid-day rest : they did come to an anchor at last, 

 but in terribly difficult ground. In fact, it seemed to me, 

 unacquainted with the locality, utterly impossible to get 

 within shot ; but Gharib Kaka was equal to the occasion : 

 he took us back a little, and then descended below the 

 level of the off side of the ridge, out of sight of the game. 

 The going was awful — loose crumbling rocks all the way, 

 in most places ground into gravel and sand, and the slope 

 down which we had to slide was very abrupt : I could 

 hardly get any footing, and the gravel and stones rolled 

 down at every step, making noise enough to frighten away 

 game a mile off. It took us a long time to get down ; 

 and the blazing sun right overhead added to my distress. 

 The heat was something frightful, and there was not a tree 

 anywhere until we were nearly over the markhor. We 

 came then to some stunted pines, and halted at once. 



After a short rest we moved on again ; the ground was 

 the same crumbling stuff, and as we were now nearing 

 our game, additional caution was necessary to prevent 

 noise, and the going became very slow and aggravating, 

 as, tread gingerly as I could, the stones luould roll. We 

 did at last reach the precipices below which we had 

 marked down the game, and, after dangerous and painful 

 (and very cautious) craning over the brink, I saw one 

 young markhor lying in the shade of a tree more than 

 two hundred yards off. The others, the larger ones, could 

 not be seen — they were evidently right under us, below 

 the precipice, and out of sight. Ghariba at last found a 

 way down a short distance to a lower ledge, and we 

 followed. From this point we could see one more, and 

 here we had to wait patiently on the brink of a sheer 



