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CHAPTER XIX. 



MY FIRST IBEX. 



Until a few years ago I was under the impression 

 that the only spot in Europe where any kind of ibex 

 might be shot was Crete, those in the Italian Alps 

 being exclusively reserved for royal rifles. At that 

 time, however, I came across a magazine article by 

 that well-known sportsman, Mr E. N. Buxton, describ- 

 ing an unsuccessful expedition to Crete in search of 

 the animal, in which he referred to the island, or rather 

 rock, of Antimilo as being also a habitat of the Grecian 

 ibex — if, indeed, any had survived a massacre wrought 

 amongst them by British naval officers, who, having 

 driven them into a spot whence they could neither 

 advance nor retreat, fired into them till nearly all 

 were killed or wounded.-^ 



1 Dr Loreiiz Liburnaii in his brochure, Die Wildziegen der Griechis- 

 chen Inseln^ published for the Bosnian Government (Vienna, 1899), tells 

 this story as follows : " The only foreigners who ever shot here were some 

 Englishmen belonging to men-of-war cruising in these waters, who held big 

 shoots in 1892 and 1893, In the former year twelve goats were shot in one 

 day, and a kid captured ; a very big buck had to be left lying in an in- 

 accessible spot. All the ibex were carefully skinned, and the skins taken 

 • away. Later on the Englishmen had unpleasantness on account of their 

 having no permission to shoot." It was no doubt one of these occa- 

 sions which was described to me by Mr Gialeraki, w'hen he said he had 

 accompanied an English vice-admiral, whose party had shot seven ibex 

 from the deck of a torpedo-boat. 



