THE TAHR. 63 



AVlion seen from the front, they somewhat resemble a liigh 

 coronet. An old buck stands over three feet at the shoulder. 

 Tlie doe, called "tehrny," is smaller, lighter in colour, and 

 less sliaggy, with horns of the same shape, but much smaller 

 than tliose of the buck. The great old bucks herd separ- 

 ately during the summer until October, generally betaking 

 tliemselves to the wildest and most unapproachable places. 

 Tlieir colour is often so dark as, at a distance, almost to look 

 l)lack, more especially in the autumn. The flesh of the 

 tahr, or " jharrel," as it is sometimes called, is considered by 

 tlie hill-men to be great medicine for fever and rheumatism ; 

 and shikarees often dry the flesh and sell it, and even the 

 l)ones, in places where fresh tahr-meat is not procurable. 



As it would be difficult to procure even the bare neces- 

 saries of life in the wild thinly populated part of the moun- 

 tains I was about to visit, my commissariat arrangements, 

 &c., were this time made on a rather more extensive scale, 

 and our party consisted of some nine or ten men all told, 

 including Kurbeer. In two days we reached the village of 

 Askote, the residence of a native potentate styling himself a 

 " Eajwar " ; and the third morning brought us to the Goree, 

 a fine rapid river, which was then in a muddy state of flood 

 from the melting of the snow-fields about its source. The 

 only noteworthy incident that had hitherto occurred on our 

 way, was tlie destruction of an enormous wild cat of a 

 light sandy -grey colour, measuring 4C inches from tip 

 to tip. 



Thus far our road had been fairly good for a mountain 

 bridle-path 5 or 6 feet wide. But after crossing the Goree, 

 where it was bridged by a few tree-stems thrown over it at 

 a narrow place between two rocks, we left the road and 

 struck up the left bank of the river by a mere track. In 

 some places our path lay close to the water's edge, in others 

 it overhung the stream, and sometimes at such a height as, 

 at first, to make looking down at it, surging impetuously 

 along, rather unpleasant. That evening we sheltered, 



