112 SPORT IiV THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



neath. We went to its edge and peered over, but could 

 see nothing. Noiselessly as we moved in our grass 

 shoes, the markhor must have heard us, for suddenly, as I 

 was going towards the far end, one of them emerged, gave 

 a terrified glance upwards, and then went off as hard as 

 he could travel. Knowing there was another, and hoping 

 that he would give me a standing shot, I would not fire 

 at number one. The next moment number two rushed 

 out, and after going a little distance, turned, and stood for 

 a moment transfixed with horror. He was about lOO 

 yards or so off as I took a quick sight and fired, and 

 then, as I saw him through the smoke going his best, I 

 sent a second bullet after him. He went on apparently 

 untouched, and Abdulla handed me the .^o^), with which 

 I fired just as he topped a small rise in front. The next 

 moment we heard a clatter of stones beyond the rise, and 

 knew that the markhor was down. 



Abdulla rushed off to cut his throat in the orthodox 

 fashion,^ while the coolie and I followed more leisurely. 

 When we came up, the markhor was lying at the very 

 edge of a precipice. If he had rolled on another two 

 feet he would have gone over, and most probably 

 his horns would have been smashed. He had the 

 marks of two bullets, one on the right quarter, which 

 eventually brought him down, and must have been the 

 first fired, and the other grazing the skin a little more in 

 front. How he went so far with so bad a wound (the 

 bullet had gone right up into his body) I do not know. 

 The size of the hole showed it could not have been due 



1 The meat of an animal shot will not be eaten by Mahomedans unless the 

 throat has been cut by a Mahomedan before life is extinct. 



