A HERD OF SIXTY RAMS 239 



we had to toil in order to face the direction in which 

 the Ibex were heading. This took us nearly an hour, 

 and as I was just reaching the plateau I suddenly 

 saw a pair of horns coming towards me at less than 

 fifty yards in front ; but unluckily I was quite out 

 of breath, having walked very fast, and instead of 

 waiting, I carelessly took my shot at the only part 

 of the beast in sight, and naturally missed. When 

 I saw him next he was rushing downhill some 

 1 50 yards below me, and great was my amazement 

 when I found that this was my light-coated friend 

 whom I had already missed before. As well as I 

 could judge, his horns must have measured well over 

 forty inches. His companion, whom I just caught 

 sight of, was a young buck hardly worth shooting. 

 I was much disgusted at this performance, so was 

 Taba. We sat down to wait for the ponies, which 

 presently came up with the head of the Ibex, and 

 remounting we started back for camp, reaching the 

 tents at 5 p.m. Curiously enough Littledale came 

 back almost simultaneously, bringing with him the 

 head of a fair ram (51 inches along the curve by 

 19] girth). He told us that he had come across 

 a herd of sixty rams, almost all with good heads, 

 and another lot of fifteen. These were the largest 

 herds of rams we had as vet seen, and we decided 



