342 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



was impossible to drive them into broken ground, for 

 they simply would not go. Altogether it seemed very 

 hopeless work, and I got back feeling very bad indeed. 



When I got up on the morning of the 13th of Sep- 

 tember the thermometer was no higher than 28°, although 

 the sun was on the tent, and the hour was 6.30 a.m. We 

 went as usual to the plain we had been hunting on the 

 two preceding days. From the hill to the east we saw 

 a herd coming up out of the shallow nala to the north. 

 Thinking there might be some bucks in the herd, I ran 

 down into the plain, and ensconced myself in a marmot 

 burrow. My legs went down a long way into it, and I 

 was able to sit with only my shoulders and head above 

 the level of the plain. After I had been there some ten 

 minutes or so, the shikaris signalled to me to come out. 

 The gazelles were then in sight, but concluding that there 

 « were no males worth shooting, I got up and joined the men. 

 My surmise was correct. The herd consisted only of 

 females and small males. While I had been in the marmot 

 burrow the men had sighted three bucks by themselves 

 going towards the shallow nala. They were some dis- 

 tance up a hillside to the north-west of the plain, and we 

 resolved to get down into the nala, and see if we could 

 intercept them. 



We had got to the edge of the ravine, when we saw 

 some thirty gazelles in it looking up at us. They were 

 a bit to my right, and the three males we wanted to 

 interview were to my left, so to try and prevent the 

 large herd frightening the latter, I ran quickly down into 

 the nala to try and cut them off As a natural conse- 

 quence the herd raced to prevent my intercepting them. 



