SHOOTING ALPINE IBEX 37 



astonishing lightness, courage and skill. Their 

 performance almost passes belief. 



They disdain a rope ; as one of them said to 

 me when I spoke to him about it : " Our women 

 would laugh at us. And, after all, if one of 

 us is killed it is better he should die alone than 

 drag his comrades to destruction ! " 



The King told me that he had often re- 

 proached himself after a bad accident had 

 occurred, but that the people themselves were 

 so passionately fond of the sport, on account 

 of the variety it introduced into their dull 

 lives, as well as the wages — about ten marks 

 a day — that to put a stop to these dangerous 

 hunts would only cause intense dissatisfaction 

 among the mountaineers. 



But there can be no doubt as to the peril 

 they entail for these people. Apart from the 

 rugged steepness of the country, the dangerous, 

 crumbling rock of this neighbourhood, it also 

 happens not infrequently that the ibex, driven 

 into a corner, enraged by the shots, turns at 

 bay at a spot where there is no escape, and 

 hurls the driver into the void. 



