80 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



Having a very strong pair of field-glasses, I had a most 

 excellent opportunity of watching the movements of 

 these shy and wary animals, and was rather chagrined 

 to see that the biggest of the two rams had only one 

 horn. When he stood broadside on it was impossi- 

 ble to detect the loss, but when he turned his head 

 it became very noticeable. The single horn was 

 magnificent, and curled over the shoulder in a fine 

 bold sweep. The smaller ram was also a splendid 

 animal, with a perfectly symmetrical pair of great 

 curving horns, each of which was, however, I should 

 judge, some inches shorter than the single horn of 

 the larger animal. It has been my fortune to look 

 upon many beautiful forms of animal life in their 

 native haunts, but I do not think that I was ever 

 more impressed by the picturesque beauty of any 

 wild animal than I was with the appearance of these 

 two grand old goats, as they stood motionless from 

 time to time, their whitish coats and broad black 

 shoulder-stripes showing out conspicuously against the 

 reddish background of rock and stone, and setting off 

 to the best advantage the contours of their sturdy 

 though symmetrical forms, whilst their great curved 

 horns and long flowing black beards gave them a 

 dignity of appearance not often to be found in so 

 comparatively small an animal. Comparisons being 

 odious, I will not compare them with any other wild 

 game; but I think that the head of a wild goat, with 

 horns well over forty inches in length and nine inches 



