A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



fine ibex, one with horns of forty-two inches, while 

 the other one was a unicorn of nearly forty-four 

 inches. This latter had only one horn, the skull being 

 almost smooth where the other should have been. 

 Personally I would rather that he had carried the 

 ordinary complement, as his head looks a bit lop- 

 sided, but the shikaris were delighted, declaring 

 that the fact of having shot him portended great 

 good fortune, and that never had so big a unicorn 

 been shot before ; and I verily believe that this super- 

 stition made them work all the harder subsequently, 

 as they thought that they were in for a "lucky" 

 expedition. The following day (June 2Oth) I took 

 it easy, sending Salia with the Balti guide up the 

 nalah that ran northwards from my camping-ground, 

 while I followed him about i P.M. The natives 

 told me that a Sahib had been up this nalah some 

 eight years ago, but that no one had shot there since 

 then, and as it led up to the higher feeding-grounds, 

 I had hopes of seeing ibex. 



Almost as soon as I left camp I got on to the 

 glacier, which comes down in an unbroken stream 

 of ice from the eastern slopes of Masherbrum. To 

 the right, or eastern side as I went up, were high 

 crags, with fairly easy rock-strewn slopes below 

 them ; but the precipices on the opposite side of 

 the glacier, a main spur running down from the 

 peak, looked quite unscaleable. Making our way 

 for some distance up the rocky moraine we came 

 upon Salia. He had seen some ibex on the slopes 



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