56 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



broken twig will disturb half a forest ; but stones may go rattling 

 away from under your feet, making a noise like volley-firing, 

 and the ttir will hardly turn their heads. Presumably stone 

 slides and the fall of single detached rocks from natural causes 

 are so common that the ibex become indifferent to the noise. 



Having then found a country, about the end of August, in 

 which XSsx are said to be plentiful, make your permanent camp 

 just inside the edge of the forest where a tiny stream trickles 

 from the glacier through the pine-trees. It is ten to one that, 

 if the country chosen is really a good one for game, you will 

 find traces of an old camp near at hand, if it be but a smooth 

 round nest among the fallen pine-needles. 



Leave your supplies and a man to look after them here, and 

 see that the man left behind understands that if he shows him- 

 self outside the forest, or goes hunting on his own account, he 

 will forfeit his pay. 



If you can persuade a Caucasian to submit to such a thing, 

 it would be safer to leave your man without firearms, and 

 therefore out of the reach of all temptation to wander. As 

 this is difficult to do, I always prefer to simply ' cache ' my 

 supplies and leave them unguarded. Even if they should 

 happen to be found by some wandering Tcherkess, they will 

 not be touched. The supplies having been cared for and a 

 central camp established, take a sleeping bag for yourself (your 

 man very likely will not even trouble to take his bourka with 

 him if it is only for a couple of nights), as many flat cakes of 

 bread as you can manage to pack, some cooked meat in the 

 most portable form you can devise, an extra pair of moccasins, 

 and a suit of flannel for night. This last item takes up very 

 little room, and is worth more than all the whisky you could 

 carry. 



Let your clothes be of good stout tweed, as near the colour 

 of the rocks as possible. Wear knickerbocker breeches, made 

 very loose at the knee, so as not to stop your stride uphill, and 

 get from your man a pair of the stout felt gaiters which he him- 

 self wears, to save your shins from the sharp edges of the rocks. 



