AMONG THE IBEX OF TURKESTAN. 



long slippery grass, which made climbing very arduous, 

 brought us level with the ibex, and worming our way to 

 the top of a ridge, we found ourselves in an excellent 

 position a bare hundred yards from the nearest beasts. 

 I selected my animal while Nurah crawled up close 

 behind me, and as soon as he turned broadside, fired. 

 Immediately there was a loud report in my ear, and I 

 turned round to see the Kalmuk's rifle smoking within 

 a foot of my head ! Two ibex lay dead on the ground, 

 and when I came to measure them I found mine had 

 a splendid head of just over 48 inches, while Nurah's 

 carried a horn of 42 inches. I found it was quite 

 impossible to prevent Nurah shooting when in sight 

 of game, so came to an arrangement with him by which 

 he agreed not to shoot until I had had my shot, and 

 then not to fire at the big ones. This he was quite 

 willing to do, since the horns were of no value to him, 

 and he only cared about the body and the skin, the 

 former of which he ate, and with the latter of which he 

 clothed himself. 



I was agreeably surprised to find that there was no 

 necessity for very early starts in the mornings. I have 

 vivid recollections when shooting in the Himalayas of 

 being dragged reluctantly out of bed in the grey light 

 of dawn, when dawn broke at 4 a.m., and sometimes 

 before, to begin clambering up the mountains by the 

 dim light of the paling stars. But here I seldom left 

 camp before 7 a.m., and never before 5 a.m., since 

 the amount of snow lying on the mountains deterred 

 the ibex from seeking the seclusion of the distant and 

 often inaccessible rocks which rose above the woods and 

 grassy corries of the lower slopes. Indeed, though it 

 was June, the weather was a strange mixture of summer 

 and winter. There vvas nearly always a sharp frost at 

 night, and heavy storms of rain, turning to snow, at 



