186 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



sharpu on the very top of the mountain-spur. Two 

 solid hours of work ensued before we were within 

 range. Then, slipping down behind a tree, I had 

 plenty of time, unobserved, to pick out my animal 

 with the glasses. The best among them was small, 

 but I was quite willing to take a small head, by 

 which to remember such a splendid stalk, and I 

 killed him with one shot. The more I used the 

 30-40, the more confidence I had in its perfect 

 accuracy ; it is good to have such a gun, for with it 

 one has no nervousness before firing, a thing fatal to 

 good shooting. 



The noon hours were spent in a spot on the 

 mountain-top overlooking the valleys of three differ- 

 ent rivers, Nunga Parbat rising to the right in all 

 its majesty, surrounded by a complete panorama of 

 snow-peaks ; the valleys spread out very far below, 

 dotted with little villages, patches of woods along 

 the river-banks, and pasture land, just as in the 

 Alps but how much grander the scene ! That 

 night my camp, which had been moved by the 

 coolies, was beside one of these villages, Chugam by 

 name, and it occurred to me that if, instead of the 

 group of dirty little log huts, a fine mansion stood in 

 the midst of those smooth lawns, wide-spreading 

 walnut trees, and rose-bushes, what a perfect coun- 

 try estate it would have made. The natives, the 



