OF THE OLD WORLD. 229 



army ever received was when the ;;reat Napoleon 

 said that " the men never knew when they were 

 beaten." The saying marked the discrimination of 

 the man, as it was that feeling that gained us 

 Waterloo, Inkermann, and numberless other glori- 

 ous days ; for our soldiers, in the words of our 

 greatest bard, — 



" Could for itself woo the approaching fight. 

 And turn what some deem danger to delight." 



But, gentle reader, I crave your pardon for 

 digressing, having wandered from my subject by 

 musing upon bygone days and the many hard- 

 fought fields that I have seen won. So now to 

 describe the Neilgherry ibex, which is, I believe, of 

 a species peculiar to the range, differing in many 

 respects from those found on the Himalayas or the 

 Caucasus. In shape they somewhat resemble the 

 common Indian goat, but the body is much shorter 

 in comparison with the height. The largest I ever 



saw — which was kiUed by B on the precipitous 



heights of the Koondahs, overlooking the low coun- 

 try — measured G feet 8 inches in length from the 

 point of the nose to the end of the tail, 50 inches 

 in height at the shoulder, and weighed, I should 

 think, over 200 pounds, as it was in first-rate 

 condition, the rutting season not having commenced. 

 The horns are dark olive with black points, about 

 10 inches in length, ringed, and 4i inches in cir- 

 cumference at the base, gradually diverging until the 



