PROSPECTING THE GROUND. 187 



It was too late to get the dead markhor out of the snow- 

 cleft that evening ; we therefore followed the other men 

 down the gully to where they had found the other buck in 

 time to bleed liim. We had only to give his carcass a shove 

 to start it rolling down several hundred feet, until it reached 

 a long narrow incline of hard snow that covered the bed of 

 a torrent which could be heard murmuring beneath. We 

 were able to drag the beast' easily down the slippery snow- 

 bed for a long distance, fortunately in the direction we 

 wished to go. 



Leaving the men to skin and break up the markhor, I 

 made the best of my way along a steep pine-clad hillside 

 to the spot where we intended to bivouac for the night, the 

 position of which I discovered by continually shouting and 

 whistling on my fingers — a most useful accomplishment 

 under such circumstances — until I was at length answered 

 by the men who were there. It was dark when I reached 

 it, so I at once sent off a couple of men with pine-torches 

 to assist the shikarees, who arrived some hours later with 

 as much as they could carry of the spoils. 



Koklass pheasants were crowing and the horned argus 

 uttering its peculiar mewing cry when I awoke in the 

 morning. Sending off a man with strict injunctions to 

 mark the whereabouts of one of the latter beautiful birds, 

 a good specimen of which I particularly wished to obtain, 

 I hastily emerged from under my warm blankets, and per- 

 formed my morning toilet, which consisted chiefly in don- 

 ning my boots. The fellow soon returned, and after leading 

 me a stiff pull up through the forest, pointed out one of 

 the former birds, at which piece of stupidity my temper was 

 considerably ruffled. 



In the forenoon we shouldered our limited kit, and made 

 for the camp, which was not very far off. I had directed 

 some men to go and prospect the ground towards the head 

 of the glen in which the tents were pitched. They now, 

 much to my disappointment, reported it as being entirely 



