i68 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chai'. 



So the morning of the 21st found us ch'mbing the hill 

 on the eastern side of the nala, going chiefly through pine 

 woods. Nothing was seen in the forenoon except some 

 female ibex, and we sat down for the usual mid-day halt 

 in a shady wood, where we found a quantity of wild onions, 

 which proved a most grateful addition to the breakfast. It 

 had been arranged that Mahamdu was to follow us with 

 food and bedding, and the coolie we had brought with us 

 was, after breakfast, sent back to meet him and lead him to 

 where we were likely to stop for the night. This place 

 could of course be only generally indicated, but the men 

 were to come to where we had breakfasted and then 

 follow our tracks. 



About 2 P.M. we set off aofain, and soon siofhtinsf a 

 herd of ibex having its mid -day siesta on some rocks 

 entirely surrounded by snow, w^e sat down to wait for it 

 to descend. While we waited a smart storm of sleet 

 came on and chilled us to the bone, and as the herd did 

 not move till it was beginning to get dark, we were very 

 cold when we started to try and intercept it. The ground 

 was all wet with the fresh sleet, and the bushes and trees 

 we pushed through helped to soak us still further. Of 

 course our feet were wet through before we started — 

 grass shoes are little protection against sleet — and we 

 were therefore in rather miserable plight when, to our 

 disgust, the herd, instead of coming down the hollow we 

 had hoped they would take, went over the ridge to our 

 right and disappeared entirely. 



Meantime the men with the bedding and food had 

 caught us up, but while we were on the stalk had 

 stayed judiciously below in the woods. When the 



