SPORT AND TRAVEL 71 



in which I was hunting. Why he lied about it, 

 Mr. J. said was because had he confessed that its 

 death was due to a bullet-wound, which could only 

 have been mine, he feared that I might have put in 

 a claim to the skin, whilst had he brought the goat 

 down to our camp as he found it, he might only 

 have been rewarded by a couple of dollars, whereas 

 the skin was worth a Turkish pound (about i8s. or 

 195.), as the skin of a full-grown wild-goat ram, with 

 its strong smell and black harness-like markings on 

 the light-coloured ground, is much prized by the 

 Turks in Asia Minor as a "praying-rug." 



As the Turk only brought the head to the rail- 

 way station on the Wednesday morning just before 

 the train was leaving for Smyrna, I was unable to buy 

 the skin of the disputed goat, but have commissioned 

 the Doctor to try to get it for me. The horns are 

 magnificent, beautifully curved, and perfectly symmet- 

 rical, with the ends curling outwards. The point of 

 one is slightly broken, the length of the perfect horn 

 being forty-six and a half inches over the curve, and 

 just under nine inches in circumference at the base. 

 Although I cannot absolutely prove it, I am sure 

 in my own mind that this magnificent wild goat was 

 the victim of my rifle, and my only regret is that, the 

 head skin having been cut up, I could not get his 

 head properly mounted. 



On the following day (Thursday, February 7) I 

 spent the morning in camp, skinning and preserving 



