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tumbling along between high banks of brown earth, the 

 sudden appearance of this singular scene being most sur- 

 prising. Here we had to leave our horses and scramble down 

 the steep slope to the water, the saltness of which was a great 

 disappointment. We then proceeded up the very narrow 

 gully until we got to a small valley surrounded by almost 

 perpendicular walls of clay several feet high, and filled up 

 with marshy patches of grass, low bushes, and a reed 

 swamp, the only outlet from it being a narrow trail which 

 wound up the slope to the ridge on the left. 



Salim now told us to station ourselves on the opposite side 

 of the reeds, while he beat them with his men and dogs ; but 

 before we had reached our posts a large sow left the thick 

 cover and took the only means of exit by the hill-track, 

 climbing it with the agility of a chamois, and uninjured by 

 several shots which were fired at it from a distance of about 

 four hundred yards. I now ran quickly towards this pass, 

 which the beasts were obliged to take, and was still a couple 

 of hundred paces from it, when a big boar took to the narrow 

 path. I sent a couple of balls into his hide, but neither of 

 them proved fatal, and the badly wounded animal slowly 

 dragged itself over the mountain-ridge with an injured hind 

 leg. 



The beaters now came running up, and I took care to make 

 them keep a certain distance behind me, as I wished to follow 

 up the traces of blood myself. 



At first I found the fresh tracks of a panther, and imme- 

 diately afterwards those of the wounded boar, with plenty of 

 blood. I soon reached the crest of the hill, where I had a 

 splendid view of a valley not very broad, but rich in vegeta- 

 tion of all kinds bushes, meadows, and high trees and 

 enclosed on its further side by steep earthy slopes. 



Still following the tracks and the traces of blood, I hurried 

 down the very abrupt hillside to the bottom of the valley, and 



