n8 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



If there is a time of year when gazelle are less 

 unapproachable than at others, it is, according 

 to shikaris, the winter, when a very cold spell has 

 set in. They say that gazelle then wander the 

 whole night to avoid freezing, and in the day are 

 so anxious to sleep that "turning" them is easy. 

 As to the truth of this, all I can say is that I 

 personally have never noticed gazelle finding any 

 difficulty in " propping their eyes open " ; in fact, 

 to find a weasel asleep would generally be an 

 easier matter. In spite of difficulties, there are 

 native shikaris that claim to have shot a thousand 

 and more gazelle, mostly I fear by poaching 

 methods. But these are only old men from 

 among the primitive, pastoral peoples that spend 

 their lives migrating from one grazing - ground 

 to another, men who have grown grey in 



" ranging trackless fields, 

 Beneath the concourse of unclouded skies, 

 Spread like the sea in boundless solitude." 



There is a quaint belief among such people 

 that one who can count his slain up to a thousand 

 must bury his rifle, or as some say perhaps the 

 more economically minded the knife with which 

 he performs the hallal. Otherwise sickness, or 

 some other evil, will befall him. One on whose 

 head rested the guilt of much blood, related to me 

 how a warning had been given him. He knew he 



