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CHAPTER VIII. 



" WHO has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere ? " Soon it 

 may almost be said, Who has not seen it ? for it is now 

 becoming a regular resort of the tourist. 



My first visit to the " happy valley " was during the 

 reign of the Maharajah Gholab Sing, to whom it had but 

 recently been disposed of by the Indian Government, and 

 it had then been only a few years " open to the public." 



All arrangements in the way of travelling equipment, 

 &c., for our trip having been completed, I started from 

 Rawul Pindi in April, with a young brother-officer, who, 

 like myself, was an ardent lover of wild sport. My left 

 arm had but a short time been freed from the bondage 

 necessitated by a broken collar-bone, which I, however, 

 hoped would be quite fit again ere I commenced rough 

 mountain- climbing. There was little to interest us along 

 the first part of our route, so we got over it as quickly as 

 possible, our object being to reach our shooting-ground in 

 the beginning of May, which is generally considered the 

 best spring month for ibex-hunting. Earlier in the year, 

 and particularly if it be a late one as regards snow, this 

 sport is attended with considerable risk from the constant 

 falling of avalanches ; and the mountain-passes leading 

 into the best ibex country are then difficult to cross, and 

 sometimes not practicable before May. Later in the sea- 

 son, when the mountains are more free of snow, the ibex 

 are higher up and more scattered on them, and consequently 

 more difficult to find. 



