IS EX. 205 



we arrived at two o'clock one afternoon at the foot of the 

 Perringoondah Mullay ibex hill, and set to work to light 

 a fire, while two of the Carders constructed a small but 

 comfortable little hut, of bamboo framework, covered by 

 leaves of the wild plaintain and tree fern, but lighting a 

 fire was a more difficult matter. It was raining heavily, 

 and everything was drenched ; the heads came off the 

 matches, so we had recourse to flint and steel. At length, 

 after an hour of dexterous manipulation, this was accom- 

 plished. Then they cut some bundles of long lemon grass 

 for my bed ; it was swarming with leeches, but by holding 

 it in the smoke of the fire we got rid of the majority 

 some, however, remaining, as I discovered when I turned 

 in for the night. 



The place selected for the camp was in a small natural 

 clearing on an under feature of the Ibex Hill, the ground 

 on each side sloping steeply away. A herd of wild 

 elephants had been foraging there, a few hours before our 

 arrival, and I was surprised to find their tracks in places 

 that seemed impassable for such ponderous creatures. 



We started early next morning up the slope of the hill, 

 and, after a mile of steep clambering, reached the edge of 

 the shooting ground, a long grassy slope with patches of 

 coarse fern and brackens, interspersed with outcrops of 

 rock. The upper slopes were barer and rockier, the summit 

 being enveloped in dense fog, which cleared now and then 

 for a few minutes when the wind blew strongly. It was 

 what I once heard a ghillie term "level climbing," i.e., a 

 slope of about five degrees. Atlay and his companion 

 soon began to exhibit the effects of wet and cold, whirl i 

 seem to stupify all natives, whether of the hills or plains : 

 the former was leading, and we had only proceeded a few 

 hundred yards, when a grand saddle-back sprang up about 



