226 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



native shikaris, though scarce and demanding high 

 wages, are to be obtained, and are reliable and honest. 

 They are generally only known to the " old hands," who 

 are inclined to keep them as a " close corporation," but 

 an introduction works wonders in the East, and no big 

 expedition should be undertaken without obtaining the 

 advice of one who knows the country, and can put the 

 novice up to the ropes. 



Leopards are scarce in the valley, the snow leopard 

 (ounce) almost unknown, and my friend considered that 

 a leave of three months had been well spent, as he 

 captured one nearly at the end of the time. Somewhere 

 beyond the limits of Kashmir their skin is very hand- 

 some, and makes a beautiful trophy. The curious want 

 of unanimity among specialists as to the real differences 

 between the leopard and panther inclines the outsider 

 to the belief that the points of divergence have been 

 merely engendered by different circumstances of life. 

 Wolves are also rare, though a variety of the black 

 sort is often obtained in the tablelands beyond the 

 Zogi La; but the jackal, hardly worthy of the name 

 of game animal, is very common, and their dismal 

 nocturnal cries added a strange dreariness to the 

 surroundings of a lonely camp up the valley. Foxes 

 are fairly common, and are much valued for their very 

 beautiful skins, wherefore the " Loh " has little chance 

 of escaping the poaching villager with an eye to gain, 

 rugs and cloaks of their fur commanding good prices 

 in the city. Of bears ("harpat," in Kashmirian par- 

 lance) there are two varieties the black bear (Ursus 

 tibetanus), so called because it does not exist there, and 

 the red bear, the " lal harbat " of the native. The former 

 are still to be got in fair quantities, and are unpleasant 



