OF THE OLD WORLD. 233 



against which I was leaning, and gaze majestically 

 round with erected head. I noiselessly took up my 

 rifle, and, as he was leisurely trotting along the side 

 of the mountain, brought the sight to bear just be- 

 hind his massive shoulder and fired. When the 

 smoke cleared away I saw him stretched lifeless on 

 the ground, shot through the heart. The report 

 soon brought up the gang, and having little time 

 to lose, we merely hoisted our quarry — which proved 

 to be a full stag with fine branching antlers — on to 

 a huge boulder of rock, where, having fastened a 

 pocket-handkerchief to one of the tines of his horns 

 to scare away the vultures, we left him until our 

 return. After several hours' clambering over broken 

 ground, scarped rocks, and deep gullies, without 

 seeing any indication of animal life, except a few 

 butterflies, Naga called our attention to something 

 moving along the scarped edge of a high ridge of 

 clifl" which frowned like a wall high above our heads, 

 and with the aid of my field-glass I discerned a fine 

 buck-ibex, evidently the sentinel of a herd, poised 

 on a pinnacle of rock nearly half a mile distant. 

 As his head was turned toward us, and he seemed 

 to be watching our movements, I took it for granted 

 that our presence was discovered, so I told Googoo- 

 loo, Naga, and Hassan to remain quiet where they 



were, whilst B , Chineah, and myself made a 



detour so as to circumvent him. 



After intense labour we clambered up the face of 

 the cliff", having frequently to crawl along ledges of 



