AFTER WILD GOATS ON THE MAIMUN 



DAGH 



TOWARDS the end of January, 1895, having 

 six weeks at my disposal, I determined to 

 make a quick rush to Asia Minor in the hope 

 of getting a shot or two at wild goats (Capra czgag- 

 rus\ or even, if time permitted, endeavouring to se- 

 cure a specimen of the little-known moufflon (Ovis 

 gmelini] of that country. Having spent two months 

 in Asia Minor in the previous autumn, I knew some- 

 thing of the country, and of the haunts and habits 

 of that handsome animal which Mr. E. N. Buxton has 

 so happily described as the father of all the goats ; 

 and, moreover, being in communication with the kind- 

 est of friends in Smyrna, I could count upon the best 

 advice and assistance in carrying out the object I had 

 in view, with little or no preliminary delay. At the 

 last moment I found myself without a rifle, my .450- 

 bore Metford, by Gibbs of Bristol (which I had used 

 on my last trip, and for many years previously), hav- 

 ing been most unaccountably lost by the Austrian 

 Lloyd Company between Smyrna and Budapest. I 

 was expecting daily to hear that this rifle had been 

 returned to my friends in Smyrna, and was naturally 



