92 IBEX SHOOTING 



beside his nest, and the partner of his joys kept the eggs 

 warm within ; my heart went out to that bird. No other 

 living creature, beside my companions, was within miles, 

 and the scene, though grand, was depressing in its 

 desolation. I turned in for the night in the goat-hole, 

 between the fire and the rocky wall — Africa on one side 

 and Iceland on the other ! I had a bad night, but luckily 

 there was no rain or snow. Jafar Bata slept next to me ; 

 then Sharafa and Jamala ; Mirza Khan elected to sleep 

 outside — there was no room for him ; he had the shelter 

 of some piled logs and a fire all to himself ; but it went 

 out durin" the niijlit, and in the morning Mirza Khan 

 looked cold and woe-begone. 



At 5.15 we left camp, and went straight up hill to a 

 point where Mirza Khan had seen some ibex (females) 

 last evening. They had gone along the ridge down the 

 valley, seeking shelter from the storm, so we followed 

 their tracks. The slopes of this open valley were sheets 

 of snow. From the top of the ridge we examined carefully 

 with the glasses every inch of ground up to the rocky wall 

 at the head of the valley ; not a single living thing was 

 visible, but it was not surprising. The violence of the 

 recent storm had no doubt driven all the game away to 

 shelter on the slopes of the Chilas valley, and they would 

 not return to this side till the snow had melted. It was 

 very bad luck to have such awful weather, as it lost me 

 the best chance I was likely to have of bagging large 

 ibex. 



The upper Hasharai is of the usual saucer shape, level 

 and undulating below, and gently sloping, grass-covered, in 

 some places stony hills all round. The highest portion 

 dividing it from the Chilas country is a rocky ridge, 

 running round the head of the valley. Three streamlets 

 run down to the bottom, and join to form the main stream. 



