202 THE CASHMERE STAG. 



layan large game. When I say this, I do not include the 

 game in the more easily accessible localities, such as the 

 Dehra Doon forests and parts of the Terai, where, from the 

 indiscriminate slaughter of milk-hinds and calves, which are 

 so often butchered from howdahs by those who call it sijort, 

 the decrease of game is a sad truth : I mean the animals on 

 the higher and less accessible ranges. The real fact at that 

 time was, that in the Nouboog forests, owing to the late 

 grazing of the sheep there, the stags did not descend from 

 their summer haunts on the higher mountains so early as 

 was their wont in many other places — in fact, not before 

 the time of year when the majority of sportsmen were, in 

 those days, obliged to quit Cashmere. I therefore resolved 

 to abide by the old man's decision, and had no reason after- 

 wards to repent having done so. 



The Cashmere stag (Cervus Wallichii), or hangul, as he is 

 named in his own country, requires but little description, 

 further than that he is merely an exaggerated red-deer stag. 

 The horns of this noble animal are larger than those of any 

 other Himalayan deer, except perhaps the " shou " or Sikim 

 stag (Cervus affinis), which is found in some of the south- 

 eastern parts of the Himalayan range ; but I have never 

 seen him. In weight I should say, at a rough guess, the 

 hangul must be from 25 to 30 stone clean. Like the ibex 

 and other large game of the higher Himalayas, he is pro- 

 vided during winter with an undercoat of the very fine and 

 soft pile known as " pushum." I have seen a set of horns 

 with seventeen well-defined points ; but the usual number 

 on a well-developed pair is from ten to twelve, those with 

 ten often being more massive than those having a greater 

 number. The three upper tines, or royals, are not so closely 

 set together at their base, or " cupped," as it is commonly 

 termed, as those of red-deer, and the beam is usually more 

 curved. The hind is called "mhmyemer" by the Cash- 

 merees, the word " mooee " being applied by them to these 

 deer collectively. This animal is customarily talked of as 



