Ibex Shooting in the Thian Shan Mountains 



we were having lunch on the mountain tops, he 

 told me most graphically by signs how he had 

 caught the bear by the ear and killed him with his 

 knife. The sheath knife he carried had a blade 

 about seven inches long, and once a week would 

 have an extra sharp edge put on it, so that he 

 could use it to shave his head. 



At last it cleared, and at daybreak I was off 

 with Khudai Kildi in search of ibex. We had not 

 ridden a mile down the narrow valley, when he 

 pointed out a little herd feeding above us on the 

 hillside, only to find that again they were all 

 females. While we were having lunch, about 1 1 

 o'clock, Khudai Kildi spied three ibex far off on 

 the sky line among some patches of snow, and we 

 settled ourselves for a long wait, as they were in 

 an unstalkable position, and were not likely to 

 move until afternoon. The fates were kind to us, 

 as they soon got up and walked over the ridge. 

 Leaving the man with the horses, Khudai and I 

 went up another nullah and over the top, but could 

 see nothing of them until we were well down the 

 slope on the far side, when out they walked some 

 distance below us in full sight, but out of range, and 

 it became a case of "belly down on frozen drift" 

 for over an hour in the cold wind that chilled us 

 to the bone. 



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