92 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



small ridge that stood out from the main range, which 

 here made a bold curve inwards, enabling us, from 

 where we stood, to see plainly a very large amount of 

 ground. The markhor were about the same level as 

 ourselves, and were grazing about in a sort of small 

 corrie filled with snow, at the foot of very precipitous 

 rocks. Following the inside of the curve the animals 

 would have been some 3 miles away, and if we could 

 have gone along, keeping to the level we were on, the 

 approach would have been simple, as the wind was 

 blowing straight from them to us. But here the hillside 

 was a series of precipices, for we tried to get at them 

 in this way, but soon found it impossible to proceed. 

 Then we thought of going up the main range, and 

 dropping down on them from above, but the glass soon 

 showed us that the precipice under which they stood 

 could not be descended without ropes. It was impos- 

 sible to go past them above and then, descending, go at 

 them from the far side, because the wind would in that 

 case have at once revealed our presence. The only 

 other way was to attack them from below, but this was 

 also impossible, as there was not enough cover and 

 we should have been inevitably detected. There was 

 nothing for it, then, but to wait till they moved into a 

 more accessible position, and we accordingly resigned 

 ourselves to watching them. 



The herd consisted apparently of the five we had seen 

 the previous day, three good sized and two younger males. 

 They were evidently quite unconscious of danger, for one 

 or two of them were lying down, and the remainder 

 grazing about. There were a few cedars near them, and 



