IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 259 



have had great difficulty in getting a native to do 

 what I wanted. Still, not to take undue credit 

 to myself, I must remind the reader that I had 

 plenty of time to learn my ground, and so on. As 

 will appear hereafter, this was not the case in the 

 Visocica, nor was I near enough to the chamois 

 ground, so there I descended to native hunters 

 and native methods like everybody else. Thus I 

 certainly learnt a good deal about that ground 

 also, which learning I hope to apply by stalking 

 there some day. 



I venture to think, therefore, that no one can 

 be in a better position than I to speak of the 

 merits of chamois-stalking as a sport, and I have 

 no hesitation in placing it, when practised in this 

 way, alone, very high among field sports. The 

 little black shiny horns may not be in themselves 

 a trophy of great value, or compare in beauty 

 with many others ; but the sportsman's eye will 

 always rest lovingly on them as he reflects that 

 each pair has been obtained at the risk of life and 

 limb — at least, I can assure him that he must be 

 prepared to do this in the Velez cliffs. Strange 

 to say, before I began chamois-shooting I imagined 

 my head was not strong enough for cliff- work, but 

 I was able to shake off this feeling at once, and 

 was hardly ever inconvenienced by it.* 



* Since writing these words I have come across some 

 remarks by another writer, from which I gather that this is a 

 very usual experience. 



