IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 291 



dog, who had gone back and got round. He soon 

 commenced to draw on the scent of the game, 

 and long before I could get to him I heard him 

 growling and pulling at the body. 



As the reader will recollect, I had had neither 

 the time nor opportunity to use the glass, con- 

 sequently there must always be an element of 

 doubt as to the exact nature of my quarry. Still, 

 the fact that it was a large dark-coloured beast, 

 and, above all, lying alone, went a long way to 

 prove it to be a good buck. One last scramble 

 down a clitter of rocks (as they say on Dartmoor), 

 and, crossing the snow, I was beside the animal, 

 which had scarcely, if at all, moved from where 

 I had last seen it. 



My doubts were soon set at rest ; it was a 

 solitaire. The horns were not very fine (I easily 

 beat them afterwards), but they were well ringed 

 at the base; and by the teeth, one of which was 

 missing, I judged him to be seven or eight years 

 old, if not more. Although the chamois is said 

 to attain the age of a quarter of a century or even 

 more, it is very rarely that the horns exceed ten 

 inches. One wonderful pair I saw in this country 

 was not only longer than this, but the span 

 between the curves was so great, and the outward 

 curve of the tips such, that they looked more 

 like those of a wild goat. Only two or three 

 Herzegovinian sportsmen can show horns over 



