MY FIRST IBEX 173 



but a dip in the sea refreshed me. Giorgio made signs 

 to know if I wanted to return to Adamas, and I 

 thought I made him understand that I wanted a big 

 ibex first. It turned out afterwards that he had 

 understood I wished to return the first evening, other- 

 wise we might have slept at the hut, which would 

 have saved me part of the laborious journey down 

 and up again. 



The fauna of Antimilo is strictly limited, as, indeed, 

 according to Herr Heiser, is the Jiora. In fact, except 

 the domestic animals and ibex, I should say there 

 were only birds and reptiles there. I did see traces of 

 what looked like a fox, but might have been a dog,^ 

 and the skeletons of animals I saw on the hill- 

 side were so little displaced as to negative the idea 

 of reynard's existence. Hats and mice there are 

 apparently none, and my food -basket on the open 

 hillside was untouched. Of birds, besides sea-birds, 

 I saw plenty of ravens, hawks, larks, chats, and a 

 wren. The only reptiles I saw were lizards, but 

 there are said to be plenty of snakes. I was told of 

 one weighing eight oke (21 lb.). It seems a queer 

 way of reckoning up a snake, but it would be a big 

 fellow that weighed a stone and a half Lastly, there 

 are seals, for I saw one on the way across. 



That night we dined on ibex liver toasted on an 

 iron ramrod — or rather I did, for the shepherds boiled 

 a leg of ibex, and were rather surprised I would not 

 share it. 



Next day we started at twenty minutes before 



seven. My remonstrances had, apparently, produced 



some effect, for only the lad went with me, and left 



his gun behind. Giorgio pantomimed that he would 



^ At the time of my second visit the shepherds said it was a dog. 



