AFTER IBEX 89 



ibex is first a kid, then a young buck, then a brown 

 buck, then a black buck, and lastly, a grand old saddle- 

 buck, having the gray mark on his back ; it takes 

 many years before they get this mark ; and I need not 

 say that it is seldom indeed the sportsman's eye is 

 rewarded by a sight of one of these magnificent old 

 patriarchs) walking along the tableland above the 

 precipices. Presently another brown buck followed, 

 and then a young buck, then two does and a kid, and 

 lastly, the black-gray body of a noble old patriarch 

 hove in sight, following with slow dignified steps his 

 grand and great-grand children. Whilst watching this 

 noble old ibex, Francis became suddenly greatly 

 excited, and I saw what I at first took for an immense 

 bear on intimate terms with the old gray ibex. Up 

 with the glass. Ye gods ! what a monster ! I 

 despair when I think how unable I am to make you 

 conceive what a splendid, noble, old patriarch was that 

 ibex. Francis, who I suppose knows more about the 

 Neilgherry ibex than any man, said he never laid his 

 eyes on anything like him. I should fancy he 

 numbered some fifty summers. Where he was not 

 gray as hoar-frost he was as black as bog oak ; his 

 glossy sides shone in magnificent contrast to his milk- 

 white stomach. His gray saddle inspired me with the 

 same respect an old man's beard does, and his old 

 battered head and massive yet graceful horns, bending 

 with a gentle sweep over his shaggy neck, made my 

 heart bound about like mad. I swore in my heart that 

 I would follow that old buck if I slept a week of 

 Sundays after him on the bare mountain-side. You 

 will hardly understand the almost sickly excitement 

 which we got into with such a prize before us, and all 

 the difficulties that spring up one by one. The 

 ibex were, as we instantly saw, returning after their 



