132 A Sportswoman in India 



slip on the pine-needles. We tried grass-shoes at 

 first ; but a pair were done for in a day, and they 

 made the toes sore where the grass-rope passes be- 

 tween. We had been climbing for some time, and 

 at last sat down to scan the ridges which were now 

 apparent. Nothing to be seen yet. A little later, 

 and one of the shikaris sighted two male tahr through 

 a glass. They had finished feeding, and were evidently 

 slowly making their way up to the heights for a 

 midday sleep among the rocks. They looked a long 

 way off; and with what interest did I not examine 

 them through my glasses ! 



The sight* of the big grey goats more than com- 

 pensated for every yard of the distance we had toiled 

 up from Chamba. Their light ash-colour deepened 

 to brown-black on the head ; their long, shaggy hair 

 on the necks and shoulders caught the sun as they 

 walked ; their great, grey beards almost reached their 

 knees ; and I could just see their short, curling horns. 

 We sat down and discussed mutton sandwiches and 

 cold tea, and then set forth on our stalk, the tahr 

 having gone just out of sight. 



We had an awkward ravine to cross to start with, 

 and I must confess to not appreciating it. S. went 

 first, M. second, a shikari third, myself fourth, and 

 the other man last. In many places footholes had to 

 be cut to enable us to get along at all. One slope 

 I did not like it broke off below where we crossed 

 into an abrupt precipice, hundreds of feet sheer 

 descent. S. was cutting footholes, and having gone 



