THE TAHR. 63 



When seen from the front, they somewhat resemble a high 

 coronet. An old buck stands over three feet at the shoulder. 

 The doe, called " tehrny," is smaller, lighter in colour, and 

 less shaggy, with horns of the same shape, but much smaller 

 than those of the buck. The great old bucks herd separ- 

 ately during the summer until October, generally betaking 

 themselves to the wildest and most unapproachable places. 

 Their colour is often so dark as, at a distance, almost to look 

 black, more especially in the autumn. The flesh of the 

 tahr, or " jharrel," as it is sometimes called, is considered by 

 the hill-men to be great medicine for fever and rheumatism ; 

 and shikarees often dry the flesh and sell it, and even the 

 bones, in places where fresh tahr-meat is not procurable. 



As it would be difficult to procure even the bare neces- 

 saries of life in the wild thinly populated part of the moun- 

 tains I was about to visit, my commissariat arrangements, 

 &c., were this time made on a rather more extensive scale, 

 and our party consisted of some nine or ten men all told, 

 including Kurbeer. In two days we reached the village of 

 Askote, the residence of a native potentate styling himself a 

 " Raj war " ; and the third morning brought us to the Goree, 

 a fine rapid river, which was then in a muddy state of flood 

 from the melting of the snow-fields about its source. The 

 only noteworthy incident that had hitherto occurred on our 

 way, was the destruction of an enormous wild cat of a 

 light sandy -grey colour, measuring 46 inches from tip 

 to tip. 



Thus far our road had been fairly good for a mountain 

 bridle-path 5 or 6 feet wide. But after crossing the Goree, 

 where it was bridged by a few tree-stems thrown over it at 

 a narrow place between two rocks, we left the road and 

 struck up the left bank of the river by a mere track. In 

 some places our path lay close to the water's edge, in others 

 it overhung the stream, and sometimes at such a height as, 

 at first, to make looking down at it, surging impetuously 

 along, rather unpleasant. That evening we sheltered, 



