PRELIMINARIES n 



of the snow, and we suffered many a twinge 

 from the icicles which by now weighed 

 down our moustaches. Half an hour later 

 we were on the top of the pass, and the 

 day had declared itself. In front of us lay 

 the flat plain crowning the pass, from which 

 it takes its name of " Mergen," or plain. 

 One mile more and we had crossed it, and 

 there remained nothing to do but to drop 

 into the valley below. 



My shikari, who was in front of me, 

 stopped on the brow of the descent, and 

 I shall never forget the keen animation of 

 his face, as, with an expression something 

 between that of a thoroughbred horse just 

 starting for a race, and of a bloodhound 

 let loose on a track, pointing to the sea 

 of mountain crests towering before us, he 

 exclaimed, " The kingdom of the ibex ! " 



Even had my legs not so urgently de- 

 manded a rest, I should still have stopped 

 involuntarily to survey the land that now 

 lay before me. 



It was seven a.m. on a cold, frosty winter's 



