158 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



we went for very weariness, to the top of a 

 lower spur of the ridge. 



I never saw a more quaint formation than 

 that of the rocks at the top of this ridge, 

 all of them huge slabs of stone set on edge, 

 until they resembled nothing so much as a 

 vast series of gravestones. Clear of this 

 cheerless track, we descended into a series of 

 slopes on which rhododendron bushes grew, 

 and here just at dusk a rush in a thicket of 

 angelica drew my attention, and next minute 

 I sighted a chamois at gaze at us from the 

 top of a small eminence two hundred yards 

 away. The darkness and the distance re- 

 quired a careful aim ; and I was doing my 

 best to make sure of meat for supper, when 

 Biasir, unable to restrain his impatience, fired 

 from behind me, missed, and gave my chamois 

 the signal for instantaneous flight. And this 

 was all my reward for a frightfully hard 

 day's work. Nor was it over yet. 



I 



