TllK I'VlfENKAN I I'.KX 235 



for easier passage tlir()ii<^"li the luaiiclu's, ]\Ir. lianow, 

 \vlio wrote at tlie licuiiiiiiii^' of tlic cciiturN', savs that 

 "despair sometimes impels the \\n-\ to face his rasli 

 pursuer oii the edge of some })athless [)recipice, and he lias 

 l)e('ii k'lidwii to tlirow liimst'lF headlong upon the hunter, 

 so that itoth have rolled o\'er into the ahx'ss beneath, and 

 miserahly })erished/' However that may he, that these 

 animals are diffieult to hunt maybe gathere<l from ihe (act 

 that I pa it 1 f tur di>iiiiet visits to the valley, and worked 

 pretty hard each time, hetoi'e 1 obtained a single specimen 

 of a male. (hvini'to the hollows in the rocks, and the 

 vegetation which covers them, it is all but impossible to 

 spy them with the glass, and the oid\- methoil of hmd- 

 ing tliat is practised, is to dri\e them. The guns are 

 postetl in an ascending line, each one occupving one of the 

 shelves I have described, at some spot where a lohrabK- 

 open shot may be obiainetl. The ibex are f"nll\' up to 

 every point ot" the game, and it is Imt seldom the\' can be 

 induced to come h)rward to the guns, though. generalK' 

 speaking, several are viewed by the beaters. Tliough a 

 heaviei' beast than the chamois. ihe\- ai'c lietlei' climliers, 

 and will t raverse places wliii-h I dn not think the chamois 

 Would face. Their aim -eenis to be to pass along some 

 tiny shelf where no man can fillow. to a ImJIow or over- 

 hanging rock' w'liicii tlic\' know of. and llicrc lie down. 

 wii(ill\ invisible from above or below. Dogs ai'c n>ed of 

 a close-tracking habit— the noisier babliler.- the belter — to 

 drive them fi'om tliese retreats. Imt it has lia])])ene(l on 

 several occasions in my experience, thai t he dog has reached 

 a place where he can neither go f uward noibaik. and has re- 

 mained there all night . hi> niclanchdlv howls ])laiid v audible 



