208 IBEX. 



gradually got narrower. Along this I crept for some yards. 

 The Carders could not help me ; indeed they were utterly 

 demoralised by cold and wet, and would not venture 

 beyond where the doe fell. The mist now cleared away 

 for a few seconds, and I found myself on a ledge barely a 

 yard wide overhanging the low country. It was too 

 narrow to turn round, and the only way out of the dilemma 

 was to crawl backwards like a crab for some ten yards. 

 This was accordingly done, but it was unpleasant work. 

 The ledge then became wider, and it was easy going, but 

 the buck had to be abandoned. While this performance 

 was going on solitary members of the scattered herd would 

 suddenly spring upon an adjacent peak, and after a good 

 stare at me would again disappear into the mist with 

 a shrill whistle. 



The Carders being done played out and the sport 

 having been good, I decided not to harry the hill any more 

 that day, so sat down to smoke a pipe. Atlay presently 

 pointed to a tuft of grass at my feet, and there was a cobra 

 coiled up within a yard of me ! I was surprised to see him 

 at this elevation, but he was, like the Carders, torpid from 

 the cold. When the pipe was finished I pulled three large 

 hill leeches off my neck, quite different to the ordinary 

 sholah leech, being ten times the size, so with all their 

 advantages, these delightful hills are not without certain 

 drawbacks. The first buck was the best of the lot ; he 

 measured as follows : height, 10^ hands ; length from nose 

 to tail, 6 feet 5 inches ; girth, 4 feet 9 inches ; length of 

 horns, 14^ inches, 8 inches round base. We had a difficult 

 march back to Toonacudavoo that afternoon through the 

 leech jungles and swollen streams, not arriving till after 

 dark. The Carders and camp servants were so heavily 

 laden with ibex meat they could barely crawl along. They 



