414 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



clothed with pines, cedars, birches, chestnuts, oaks, and 

 numerous other kinds of trees. Many had lost their 

 leaves when I arrived, but others had only changed 

 colour, and stood out on the hillside blazing with gold 

 and red. The undergrowth contained two or three kinds 

 of ferns, notably the crisp, serrated maiden-hair, so com- 

 mon in the Simla woods [Adiantuni venustuni). Here 

 and there on the hillsides were stretches of ground with 

 nothing but red-berried rose-bushes and long, dry, brown 

 grass, and it was on these open spaces, I was informed, 

 that the deer were to be seen in the mornings and 

 evenings, and there alone that a shot could be obtained. 

 In the middle of the day the stags were in the shade of 

 the woods, and of course unapproachable. 



On the morning of the 2nd of November I once more 

 put on grass shoes (not worn since the 19th of June, when 

 I was in the Garhi nala, near Astor), and went up the 

 southern of the two glens of which the Reserve consists, 

 sending my camp on a couple of miles to the northern 

 glen. We were not long reaching the crest, the walk 

 being most enjoyable through the autumn woods. We 

 saw a few hinds on the way, but nothing else. 



From the crest we got an extended view over the 

 valley of Kashmir. Looking back, we could see nearly 

 to Srinagar, and ahead to the low hills around Islamabad. 

 We went northwards along the crest for some distance, 

 and then, about nine o'clock, sat down on a bed of dry 

 grass for the day. About noon the shikari cooked my 

 breakfast as usual. That day the matches had been 

 forgotten, and Abdulla had to use the object-glass of 

 my telescope as a burning-glass to kindle a fire. It 



