HALALED AT LAST 265 



appointed Yakub, crouched on the rock above, knife in 

 liand, glaring down at the carcase, was a picture. But 

 now there was still less time to lose if the mutton was to 

 be made lawful, so we got the little man down as quickly 

 as we could, and the ceremony was performed ; it was a 

 mere detail, of course, that the animal was stone dead before 

 the knife touched his throat. As Yakilb wiped his knife 

 on the ram's body, he said, " The Baltis may say what they 

 like, but I am not going to risk my life again to get lawful 

 meat for them ! " 



It seems that these men, who are all Musalmans, were 

 greatly scandalised when they discovered that the first 

 ram I had shot had not been halaled, and they spoke 

 feelingly on the subject of good mutton falling into the 

 hands of the heathen. My servant, in a weak moment, 

 promised that the next animal should certainly be fit for 

 orthodox mouths, hence his gallant efforts ; but it was his 

 last attempt in the good cause. Ever after, a Balti coolie 

 formed one of my shikar party for the express purpose of 

 halaling bagged game, but my luck was so bad that the 

 man had not many opportunities of using his knife. 



We left the carcase on the snow, taking only the head 

 with us down to camp. On my way I came across a 

 frozen waterfall, a beautiful sight. The ram was brought 

 down next morning and cut up. I sent a quarter of wild 

 mutton to my friend's wife at Kilba, whose kindness in 

 looking after my commissariat could not be sufficiently 

 acknowledged. The horns of the ram were 17 \ inches in 

 length, and girth at base 11 ^ inches; they were not worth 

 keeping. The bullet broke the hind leg near the back- 

 bone, entirely smashing it ; the spine too must have been 

 injured, as the hind-quarters of the animal seemed paralysed 

 when he endeavoured to get away. The bullet was the 

 usual Eley's "450 Express, driven by five drams of powder. 



