A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



was just about to catch hold of him when he got 

 up and bounded down the sheer rock straight 

 towards us. He was going slow, and " Bhalu " 

 caught him by the hind leg, but was sent sprawling 

 with a kick, and it was some minutes before Salia 

 caught him by the horns, as he floundered in deep 

 snow, and despatched him in the orthodox manner. 

 On following up the others we could see two of 

 them lying on the glacier far below, and the other 

 two had taken to inaccessible places as is their 

 wont when badly wounded : these we had to leave 

 till next day, when they were retrieved. Thus 

 ended a very lucky stalk, and, as Salia said with 

 some pride, " We had at least one hundred pairs of 

 eyes and ears matched against our four, and had 

 fairly defeated them on their own ground." 



We did not reach the main camp till 2 P.M., doing 

 the last part of the march under a broiling sun. 

 The delight of the retainers was extravagant, and 

 they caroused far into the night, singing and feasting 

 on ibex flesh. I cannot myself imagine anyone 

 eating ibex unless he was absolutely dying of 

 starvation, for even on approaching an old buck 

 you perceive that he is decidedly " goaty," but to 

 eat him, ugh ! However, the natives like the 

 flesh, and I have even seen them greedily devour 

 the meat of a tahr, which is, if anything, more 

 so ! On my measuring them, the heads proved 

 to be forty-two and a half, forty, thirty-nine, and 

 twenty-nine inches respectively, the latter being 



74 



