153 



" aud direct flight as when they see or smell their enemy, they start 

 " about from rock to rock in a most bewildered manner ; at times 

 " squatting like hares, then springing up with a shrill whistle, hesita- 

 " ting for a moment which line to take, and all the time affording 

 " opportunities to the sportsmen to pick and choose his shots. I 

 " have heard of some five or more falling, in one morning, to the 

 " deadly breech-loader of the present day. Eheu ! Eheu ! ! that 

 " it should be so ! ! ! 



" Beside their enemy, man, they have another very wily poacher 

 " to guard against, the leopard. Wherever ibex are found, there 

 " assuredly will the marks of this their stealthy foe be detected. 

 " From the strong scent attending the ibex, especially the males, 

 " the leopard has no difficulty in finding his prey, and, I imagine, 

 " many fall victims to his rapacious maw. Some years ago, an 

 " officer from Bombay out at the Khoondahs, witnessed the capture 

 " of an ibex by a black panther ; he had the good fortune to slay 

 " the marauder, and bagged both ibex and cheeta. 



" To my mind the pursuit of the ibex is more exciting, if possible, 

 " than that of the stag. The peril that attends the adventurer on 

 " the crags and fearful precipices where the quarry resort, the 

 " grand and sublime scenery, the giddy heights, and sombre depths, 

 " the danger and difficulty of the stalk, all combine in adding to the 

 " charms and attractions of the pursuit, and make a man feel proud 

 " of his success, when he has killed and brought to bag a fine old 

 " saddle-back. I will not attempt beyond a brief sketch how the 

 " animal is to be stalked. Let us suppose ourselves at sunrise on 

 " the summit of a rocky ridge, leading down to what may be called 

 " a steppe on the mountain side. The ridge falls rapidly ; in some 

 " places so steep, that to descend it in an upright posture is next 

 " to impossible ; it is a scramble down one mass of rock over 

 " another, now across some scanty scrub of grass, underfoot loose 

 " stone, again another wall of rock, and so on till the first steppe 

 " is accomplished ; perhaps a mile or nearly so from whence you 

 " start, a short space of an easier slope, covered with long grass in- 

 " terspersed with boulders of rocks here and there, and then another 

 " descent, perchance worse than the first, the incline being even 

 " steeper and the impediments more difficult. Below this second 



20 



