MARKHOR AND SHARPU SHOOTING 189 



The next two days were very dismal ones, for 

 a steady downpour kept me in camp, the clouds 

 hanging low on the mountain, rendering stalking 

 impossible, and I sat on the ground in my wigwam 

 (Perry now having the big tent), wishing heartily 

 that it would dry up and not waste my valuable time 

 and temper. Then I had two splendid days of hunt- 

 ing, unsuccessful, but none the less delightful. On 

 one of them I was on my feet for ten and a half 

 hours, with but half an hour's halt for tiffin, and in- 

 deed it seemed to me that night that we had crossed 

 most of the mountain-ranges in Kashmir. The rain 

 had evidently driven all the game away, and not 

 wishing to waste more valuable time from my black 

 bear shooting, and on an unimportant animal, I 

 broke camp on the 26th for my hundred-mile march 

 to Bandipur, where I was to take boat to the bear 

 country. This march occupied just four days. 



After the barren and rugged country over which 

 we had come, and the almost impossible trails we 

 had labored over, to get down to a smooth road, 

 surrounded by fields of grass and flowers, was most 

 gratifying. The first day we pushed on from day- 

 light till dark, following the course of the Kamri 

 River, and all the way getting the grandest views 

 of Nunga Parbat, as it loomed up above all else 

 behind us. That night my camp was just at the foot 



