THE WILD GOATS OF CASHMERE 



if they have not been out shooting in the hills, 

 and have not seen the eccentric currents caused by 

 the configuration of a mountainous country. One 

 golden rule, which a sportsman who had shot in 

 Cashmere and Thibet laid down to me, is this, viz., 

 that "Wind will always blow up-hill if it can," 

 which fact affords a further reason for keeping well 

 above the game. 



Ibex have of late years generally been shot with 

 expresses of '500 or '450 calibre, but the ibex 

 weapons of the present and the future are undoubt- 

 edly the '303 sporting rifle and the '256 Mannlicher, 

 the flat trajectory of both giving them an enormous 

 pull over all other sporting rifles yet invented. 

 This advantage a great one anywhere is enor- 

 mously accentuated in the case of shooting in the 

 hills, where accurate judgment of distance is often 

 extremely difficult. 



The vernacular names for the ibex are 



In the Himalayas Sakin, I skin, Skeen. 



On the Upper Sutlej Buz. 



Kashmiri Kale. 



In Kulu Tangrol. 



In Ladakh (male) Skin, (female) L'Damuo. 



THE IBEX OR WILD GOAT OF ASIA MINOR 

 (Copra ^Egagrus) 



This wild goat extends from Asia Minor into 

 Sindh and Baluchistan, and is also found in 

 Afghanistan. In colour, its short coat is brown, 



29? 



