22 MT FIEST TAHIR. 



time. Two hard days' work followed, had 

 several shots at musk-deer, but found no 

 tahir : bad shooting and bad walking. 



On the 7th I had a good day's work, and 

 shot my first tahir. The walking is the 

 hardest I ever experienced, and consequently 

 makes the eye and hand unsteady. The 

 general haunts of the tahii" are the rocky 

 faces and grassy slopes of hills which are 

 almost free from forest, or with but occasional 

 patches ; though many inhabit the forest 

 itself, where the ground is steep and rugged, 

 interspersed with ledges of rock and abrupt 

 projections. 



Where the hills attain an elevation of more 

 than 8000 feet, on the southern and eastern 

 slopes, the forest consists principally of oak ; 

 the ground is dry and often rocky, the trees 

 in many parts thinly scattered, and the under 

 herbage is much of the same grassy character 

 as the pasturage on the hills which are 

 entirely free from forest. On the ojDposite 

 slopes the forest is of a much denser descrip- 

 tion ; towering above the oaks are immense 



