SHEEP AND GOATS 249 



really good climber can get near them, and even so, 

 the old markhor keeps in cover so much that, except 

 in the rutting time, one has but a poor chance of 

 getting sight of him. There is also on this pre- 

 cipitous ground a very good chance of the quarry, 

 when shot, tumbling neck and crop a few thousand 

 feet, to become, as may be imagined, nothing but a 

 mangled mass of flesh and bones, the beautiful horns 

 broken off short at the skull. The Gilgit district is 

 now the only place where any sport with these 

 splendid goats can be obtained, but owing to the 

 impossibility of getting coolie transport and supplies 

 (rice and flour to feed the men) in these parts it is a 

 closed country for all except the few officers located 

 in the district. 



Some fifteen years ago I started from Kashmir 

 with one of the best shikaris of that time, Kamala by 

 name (poor fellow, I saw him die of cholera some ten 

 years after). My intention was to go up towards 

 Astor, follow the Rupel nullah up to the watershed, 

 and drop down on the slopes of the Indus on the 

 other site into Chilas, which is called in that part 

 Yagistan, i.e. lawless, and is outside the British or 

 Kashmir frontier a forbidden country. This, of 

 course, made it more interesting, and, not having 

 been shot by the white man, I expected to find as 

 many markhor as I wanted. To make a long story 

 short leaving most of my kit in the Rupel nullah, 

 travelling light with a few coolies I got over the 

 pass without mishap, and found myself in Chilas. 



I did not intend to meet any Chilasis, if I could 



