86 SENSATIONS ON BAD GROUND. 



Before we could reach the ridge, however, it was necessary 

 to traverse an exceedingly awkward place. It was a very 

 smooth slope at a fearfully sharp angle. Not the smallest 

 excrescence was there on it for foothold. The ground was 

 covered with a thin layer of fresh-fallen snow, just enough 

 to make the footing slippery and treacherous. Below it 

 the rocks fell away so precipitously that the consequences 

 of a false step would have been too dreadful to contem- 

 plate. There were only some fifty yards of danger, but 

 my nerves underwent a considerable amount of wear and 

 tear before we got over them. Be it remembered, this 

 was my first essay at hunting on the upper ranges. 

 Hitherto I had thought something of my experiences on 

 the gooral grounds of the middle ranges, until they were 

 totally eclipsed by those of the vast heights of these upper 

 regions ; and such a place as we had now to negotiate 

 might certainly have been considered, to say the least of 

 it, unpleasant, even by the boldest and most experienced 

 of cragsmen. 



It is on these dangerous slopes where that trusty com- 

 panion of the mountain hunter, the iron-shod pole, affords 

 such invaluable assistance, both as a support and for dig- 

 ging notches for foothold in the hard ground or frozen 

 snow. It will be found more serviceable for the latter 

 purpose if, instead of the usual iron point, it is shod with 

 a light triangularly - shaped spud, having its lower edge 

 about an inch and a half broad. It is almost needless to 

 suggest that one of the party should always be provided 

 with an axe of some sort, and the common little " kool- 

 harree " (wood-hatchet) which almost every hill villager, 

 when out on the mountain, carries in his girdle usually 

 a coil of rope to be used in case of need answers all 

 hunting requirements, as well as the best of ice-axes. The 

 sensation termed " giddiness " I have never, in the literal 

 acceptation of the word, experienced when on dangerous 

 ground ; but I freely confess having felt what is vulgarly 



