168 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



with moraine and seamed with gullies. Such places 

 are the favourite haunt of the wild goat ; and at the 

 end of about twenty minutes I was able to put my 

 glass on my first herd — four does and three kids — 

 crossing the moraine about three hundred yards 

 away. I could not but be reminded of the chamois 

 of the Herzegovina, the last animals which I had 

 stalked, and on very similar-looking ground. They 

 fed up between some ridges of rock, and were lost 

 to view, though I continued to hear the stones they 

 dislodged, as they moved from place to place, rolling 

 down. The sun was already so hot that 1 was glad 

 to fasten my handkerchief turban-fashion round the 

 small cap I wore. This was my first Mediterranean 

 shooting trip, and never again did I go unprovided 

 with a cap either with a good peak at the back or a 

 flap to let down when required in sun or rain. 



At the end of half an hour or so we decided to 

 move on. Giorgio, who evidently thought there 

 ought to be more ibex amongst the ridges in front 

 of us, left his son where we were, and making a 

 long circuit, we came out facing our old position at 

 a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile. We were 

 now overlooking the same moraine from the other 

 side, and behind us the remains of old walls and 

 cleared ground showed that at one time there had 

 been cultivation, the only thing of the kind on the 

 island, except in some of the crater bottoms. 



Nothing was to be seen from this point, so the 

 shepherd left me and went a couple of hundred 

 yards lower down. Still no result, so he shouted 

 out a question to his son, who replied. Immediately 

 a buck ibex appeared on the ridge half-way across, 

 looking seawards for his enemy. It was my first 



