CHAPTEE IV 



MAKKHOR SHOOTING — {continued) 



Village of Damot— Compulsory labour— March np the valley— Good signs of 

 markhor— One killed by leopard— Theory regarding horns — Anightout — 

 A black bear's family— A fatiguing and useless ascent— Game not visible 

 — Meet a brown bear, but lose my chance— Sight a markhor at last — 

 The stalk impossible — A tramp of thirteen hours— Find a fifty-two inch 

 l;iorn — Markhor get the upper hand — An extemporised observatory — 

 Begin a stalk of twenty-four hours— Failure at first— Great exposure — 

 A bad night under a rock— Hard work again— Make bad shooting— A 

 last and lucky shot — Bag a forty-seven incher — A "halaling" dispute 

 — The theory of "halaling" — Dimensions of markhor shot. 



I FOUND the surroundings so pleasant at this village that I 

 halted here to rest and to make the necessary arrangements 

 for my shoot in the valley above. 



Biiohdor Shah has all the villages as far as Chakarkot 

 under his charge. They are all on or near the high road 

 to Gilgit, and the begari work (compulsory labour) fell 

 heavily on the people : there was a constant stream of 

 officers and men to and from Gilgit, and their baggage had 

 to be carried by the villagers, who did two marches in 

 either direction before they could be relieved. In the 

 Astor direction they went as far as Dashkin, and by result 

 they were constantly absent from their fields for three and 

 four days at a time. 



As this went on during all seasons of the year, the 

 people were very hard pressed. Many homes were broken 



50 



