SPORT AND TRAVEL 117 



me is its wonderful symmetry, for in size it is but a 

 second-class maral head. The measurements of the 

 horns are as follows: length along the beam, 39^ 

 inches ; circumference, between the second and third 

 tine, 5^ inches; inside span, 36 inches; length of 

 brow antler, 17^ inches; points, 15 (7 x 8). The dusk 

 was now coming on apace, and I was still some dis- 

 tance from camp, so I hastily covered the whole head 

 and neck of my prize with heavy stones to preserve it 

 from any prowling hyena, wolf, or jackal which might 

 be about, for all these animals still frequent the moun- 

 tain ranges of Asia Minor, and then walked home in 

 the dark, being guided from the top of the ridge by the 

 bivouac fires in the valley below. 



On the following morning I was up by daylight, 

 and accompanied by two Turks reached the carcass 

 of the stag by sunrise. We found it untouched by 

 any beast of prey. I had brought a scale with me, 

 and after removing the offal from the carcass as well 

 as the heart, lungs, and liver, I cut it up and weighed 

 it in pieces, the aggregate weight of the several parts 

 amounting to four hundred and fifty-seven pounds, 

 or thirty-two stones, nine pounds. This stag, it must 

 be remembered, was shot on October 19, towards the 

 end of the rutting season, and was very much run 

 down, so that had he been shot a month earlier 

 when in high condition, he would probably have 

 scaled forty stones clean. After this I shifted my 

 camp, but remained hunting in the same range of 



