XI RAIN, WIND, AND CLOUD 175 



had been enlarged in one place, evidently by my pre- 

 decessor in the nala, just sufficiently to allow of a tent 

 being pitched. Shortly after we arrived the coolies 

 came up. The cook explained that the contretemps of 

 the previous evening was due to his having gone up the 

 stream beyond Barchu, not understanding that he was 

 to come up the hill. He had been told to go "above 

 Barchu." He had understood this to mean higher up the 

 river, and accordingly went up, whereas the shikari had 

 meant higher up the hill. 



Rain fell during the night, and it was still raining 

 when day broke on the 24th, and the wind was con- 

 stantly changing, so we did not go out till after breakfast ; 

 and then on arriving at the Round Gorge, found the 

 ibex (yesterday's herd) high up in the snow. They 

 came down towards the evening and we tried a stalk, 

 but the animals were very wary ; and when, after crossing 

 the stream on a bridge of frozen snow, we reached the 

 grassy slope where they should have been found, they 

 had disappeared. Apparently they had winded us. 

 No markhor were seen at all, so we went back to the 

 tent, wet, cold, and disappointed. It had snowed during 

 the day, and was raining pretty hard when we were 

 returning. 



The 25th proved a very trying day. When we 

 reached the ridge overlooking the Gorge not long after 

 daybreak, we were surprised to see the herd of ibex we 

 were after, high up amongst the rocks, the females 

 whistling in much alarm and all looking down at the 

 grassy slope. There was nothing that we could see 

 to cause the alarm, but it was evident something had 



