160 THEIE EXTRAOEDINAET POWEES. 



with the wonderful chmbmg and saltatory 

 powers of the ibex ; and although they 

 cannot (as has been described in print) make 

 a spring and hang on by their horns until 

 they gain footing, yet in reality, for such 

 heavy-looking animals, they get over the 

 most inaccessible-looking places in an almost 

 miraculous manner. Nothing seems to stop 

 them, nor to impede in the least their pro- 

 gress. To see a flock, after being fired at, 

 take a dkect luie across country, which they 

 often do, over all sorts of seemingly impass- 

 able ground ; now along the naked face of 

 an almost perpendicular rock, then across a 

 formidable landslip, or an inclined plane of 

 loose stones or sand, which the slightest 

 touch sets in motion both above and below ; 

 diving into chasms to which there seems no 

 possible outlet, but instantly reappearing on 

 the opposite side ; never deviating in the 

 slightest from their course ; and at the same 

 time getting over the ground at the rate of 

 something hke fifteen miles an hour ; is a 

 sight not easily to be forgotten. There are 



