v IBEX 105 



The following is partly an extract from his diary 

 and partly taken from a letter to his mother : 



" INDIA. 



Up at four o'clock. My eye still felt very weak and 

 sore. At Glen Strae we saw no deer, so turned sharp 

 to the right (the coffee-planters having gone) and 

 examined the high precipices hanging over the Mayar 

 Valley in hopes of ibex ; nor were we disappointed, as 

 we immediately descried an old doe lying at the edge 

 of an awful precipice. Examining the ground well 

 with glass we discovered a kid with her, and also two 

 other ibex one a buck lying on the eagles' crag. 

 The old mother and young were divided from the 

 others by the jutting sides of what I have named the 

 eagles' crag. It was a most interesting sight to see 

 the old lady rise in a few moments and encourage the 

 little one to follow her round it. How they kept their 

 footing is a matter incomprehensible to me. The little 

 kid did not like it at first, but presently it plucked up 

 courage and turned the dangerous points. It was now 

 my turn ; the mother and kid had lain down again, the 

 old one choosing the very highest point of the crag. 

 The stalk was a most difficult one, and I despaired 

 of making it good. * Never say die ! ' carries one 

 through queer things, so I took off my boots and went 

 at it. With great care I managed to get within 150 

 yards of the ibex, and fancied I was going to succeed 

 after all, when up jumped the old doe. I cannot tell 

 even now whether she saw me or not ; but any way, 

 such was my impression at the time, so I covered her 

 and fired ; she reeled off the rock, and the brown buck 

 instantly bounded into her footsteps ; without taking 

 Purdey from my shoulder, I pulled at him, and over he 

 went down, down, through the air like a round ball 



