208 GOPEE CHUND HILL. 



rushes off headlong regardless of every obstacle in the shape 

 of rough precipitous ground, seldom stopping to look back. 

 Its ordure, like that of the musk-deer, is generally found 

 deposited together in large heaps. In the Kumaon district, 

 and also, I believe, in Nepal, it is called " tahr " or " thar " ; 

 the tahr proper being there called "jharrel." On the more 

 eastern Himalayas a red -coloured variety of the surrow 

 occurs, but even more sparsely, I am told, than its darker- 

 skinned relative of the more western ranges. 



In one of my many shikar trips among the mountains adja- 

 cent to Dehra Boon, I was exceptionally fortunate in coming 

 across several of these rather uncommon nondescript animals. 

 On this short excursion I started with a brother officer who, 

 although not a sportsman, was an ardent admirer of nature. 

 Our objective point was a singularly shaped craggy hill, 

 called Gopee Chund teeba (hill), which formed a prominent 

 feature of the outer ranges where it was situated. 



Amongst the native folk-lore of this locality were many 

 wild legends concerning this hill. It was said to have derived 

 its name from a rajah of bygone days, who, with his boon 

 companions of his court, used to carry on their revels and 

 midnight orgies in his palatial halls, which were supposed to 

 have once stood on the site of the bare grey crags and high 

 cliffs formed by landslips, where the eagle now has its eyrie 

 and the gooral roams free. But Eajah Gopee Chund having 

 suddenly been stricken with remorse for his past vices and 

 follies, resolved to become a jogee (religious devotee) for the 

 rest of his days. On his turning jogee it appeared that he 

 must in some mysterious manner have acquired supernatural 

 powers, as prior to setting out on his lifelong pilgrimage he 

 converted his castle and all its belongings into the rugged 

 grey rocks that now form the hill. 



When hunting over this ground, my shikaree, a native of a 

 neighbouring village, was wont to entertain me with many 

 a wild tale, and to point out objects of, to him, superstitious 



