I04 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



down, and very thankful I was when I found myself once 

 more hidden from view behind a friendly rock. Sultan 

 Ali came last, and he also, by great good luck, escaped 

 bein(>' seen. 



As we were now, Abdulla whispered, close to his 

 markhor, Sultan Ali was left behind, and taking only the 

 two rifles, we crawled out on to a comparatively flat rock 

 which here projected over the gully below, and lying flat, 

 peered over its edge. After a little time I made out a 

 markhor, of fair size, lying under a rock about 350 yards 

 away and nearly straight below. He was near the floor 

 of a very steep gully which came from somewhere high to 

 our left, and ran down almost to the Indus far away to 

 the right. Moving on to another place, we saw a second 

 and better markhor, a little below the first one, also lying 

 under a rock, and every now and then scratching his 

 quarters with the tips of his horns. From his being able 

 to do this I concluded he was a fairly good beast, and 

 whispered to Abdulla that we must get lower down for 

 a shot. Just as I said this the goat stepped down into 

 the gully and began grazing. I looked at my watch and 

 saw it was only 1.30, much before the time that markhor 

 usually think of starting for their evening graze. It was 

 very bad luck, as I was pretty sure of being able to get 

 reasonably close if the animal had remained where he was, 

 and now I might have to follow him a long way. 



However, there was nothing else for it, and we con- 

 tinued going down. Soon we arrived opposite the place 

 where the markhor had been, and saw that the smaller 

 one had left his perch also. To ascertain this we had 

 had to come to the edge of the gully, and we looked to 



