62 MARKHOR SHOOTING 



position and picked out the largest pair of horns I could 

 see ; waited some time till I got a broadside shot, fired 

 and — missed. Fired the second barrel and missed again ! 

 Then I took the second rifle, and at the third shot broke a 

 fore leg. Another large mtirkhor now came into view, and 

 I fired the fourth shot at him — missed again ! Sharafa 

 handed me the first rifle reloaded, and I fired again at the 

 wounded one, who was now making off — and missed once 

 more. The agony of that moment ! The brute was 

 limping off; he would be round a projection out of sight 

 in ten paces. Just at the turn he stopped for a second to 

 look back ; it was my last shot and my last chance. 

 Desperation steadied me ; I put up the second sight, and 

 placed the bullet behind the right shoulder ; the markhor 

 rolled down the slope and was brought up dead. The 

 range could not have been less than three hundred yards. 



Firing downwards at an angle of thirty degrees is very 

 ticklish work, and many misses must occur unless one is 

 well practised in this kind of shooting. At the last shot, 

 the animal, though farther off, was nearly on a level, so it 

 was an easier shot. Mirza Khan and Ghariba, with knives 

 drawn, started off at a frightful pace to perform the 

 haldl (cutting the throat), but they had to go down 

 round one slope, cross the ravine, and up the opposite hill- 

 side, and it was at least fifteen minutes before they reached 

 the victim — too late, for the old buck was dead long before 

 they arrived. The halal was a failure ; but would not 

 have been if Sharafa had not been so scrupulous. He 

 shouted that the animal was dead, and no halal was possible, 

 but to be careful about cutting well below the throat, etc. 

 — he was mindful of the " setting up " and its requirements. 

 Ghariba in a rage shouted back that he would halal. 

 Sharafa then said the meat would be maknlh (unlawful), 

 and that was the end of it. I now found out from 



