THE WILD GOAT. 177 



broken, rugged, and densely covered with forest 

 growth. We found several marks of goats on it, and 

 on our way down put up, and did not see, another 

 goat, which, like the first one, dashed away in the 

 direction of the central basin. 



Our only other adventure was W.'s narrow escape 

 from falling down a natural pit. All the limestone 

 hills are riddled with caves and pits, which are the 

 immemorial home of colonies of bats, and of curious 

 white sightless snakes that feed upon the bats. A 

 crack or crevice in the rock, covered with a fibrous 

 matting of root, leaves, and moss, often connects with 

 great caverns that extend into the centre of the hill ; 

 and one has therefore to be careful where one treads, 

 for a man who disappears down one of these pits has 

 little hope of being rescued. W. stepped straight 

 into one trap, and plunged in until his outstretched 

 elbows saved him. We quickly extricated him, but 

 he was lucky to get off with nothing worse than a 

 shaking. 



By the time that we had made our way back to the 

 point where we had first ascended the hill, we saw 

 that the combination of dense vegetation and broken 

 precipitous rock prevented any chance of our coming 

 upon the goats by surprise. We decided, therefore, 

 to try to drive them, and returned to Hussein's house 

 to make the necessary arrangements for the following 

 week. 



In the course of the conversation Hussein gave us 

 an interesting piece of information regarding the cave 

 in the secret hollow of the hill. I had noticed that 

 he seemed rather afraid of the cave: it was, he said, 



M 



