280 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



always the chance of seeing a black bear come 

 nosing out into the open, or exhibit himself on 

 the top of some distant tree, birds to watch, 

 and nature in a thousand other forms. About 

 three o'clock the first roar resounds from the 

 forest. The book is put away and glasses pulled 

 out. The sound is repeated at intervals, answered 

 maybe by others, and you find yourself already 

 calculating the size of the beast. The sun sinks 

 westward with astonishing rapidity, the shadows 

 creep along the hillsides, and a chill conies into 

 the air, but still the deer do not show themselves. 

 There is barely time for a stalk now. How 

 impatient you grow ! Suddenly your shikari 

 nudges you, and you become aware of deer 

 feeding in the open, where a deep shadow is 

 cast by a clump of fir-trees; but by the time 

 you have fully made them out, the stalker has 

 disappeared at a run, snapping his glasses as he 

 goes, and you follow. 



A word here about the Kashmir shikari. All 

 have splendid physique and, as a matter of course, 

 wonderful eyesight. As stalkers they are good, 

 though not to my mind the equal of the men 

 one gets further north "beyond the Passes," 

 Gilgitis, Chitralis, and Ladakis, at any rate on 

 strange ground. They know the habits of deer 

 well, and, in short, will get you as many shots 



