IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 357 



return next day to prosecute the search for the 

 buck, but on reflection I saw that I should only 

 be a hindrance to the Turks, besides being pretty 

 tired at starting, after my long day. So I left 

 Zaklan the rifle and half a dozen cartridges, which 

 he returned when his son came in to the mosque 

 next day, saying he had failed to find the buck. 



A few days later, when on the look-out for 

 pig spoor, for which I had promised a good 

 reward, a gathering of vultures attracted his 

 attention, and resulted in his finding the dead 

 animal. Of course the carcase was partly decom- 

 posed, for a buck chamois in the rutting season 

 will not keep a day unless the curious glands * 

 behind the horns, which are then so swollen and 

 offensive, are at once cut out. Nevertheless, I 

 got my horns, and the assurance that the bullet, 

 after cutting out the eye, passed through under 

 the flank. Making shots of this kind is most un- 

 satisfactory to the sportsman, but I can urge that 

 this was the only chamois I hit and failed to kill 

 clean during the season. The fact is, I should 

 have done better to load with BB shot in the 

 right barrel on these occasions — a shot-and-ball 

 gun being so well adapted for this. To make 

 sure of snapshots at short ranges takes a first-rate 



• The Austrians call these ihefeigen, or figs. They develop 

 in the Herzegovina earlier than elsewhere, i.e. in the last week 

 of October. 



