168 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



the oorial would not seriously decrease, for their eyesight 

 is wonderful, and any suspicious object, however far dis- 

 tant, sends them off. To a whiff of tainted air they are 

 as sensitive as any deer; and unlike the ibex and mark- 

 hoor, the slightest noise or fall of a stone puts them on the 

 alert. As I have already said, the ground they frequent 

 makes it hard to approach noiselessly, and we found them 

 the most difficult wild animal to shoot fairly that Alan 

 had ever stalked. 



We worked hard for two or three days, but shot nothing, 

 although several good heads were seen. Alan for a whole 

 day followed one ram, whose horns Rahman declared were 

 as big as an ovis amnion's. Towards evening the animal 

 settled down to feed, surrounded by fifteen or twenty does. 

 The ground was favourable for stalking, and after a long and 

 laborious walk Alan reached the place, but only to see the 

 herd scampering over the next hill. The wind was right, 

 and they had taken off their chupplies to walk more silently, 

 but notwithstanding all their caution, the wily animals de- 

 tected them in some way, and they never saw the ram 

 again. Rahman, who has had much experience after all 

 kinds of mountain animals in Kashmir and Thibet, fairly 

 gave these oorial up as a bad job, and declared that lie did not 

 know how to circumvent them. He suggested that we should 

 get a local shikari, and Alan wrote asking the Tchsildar of 

 Pind-dadan-khan to send us a good man. 



