210 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



rabbits with a rifle at two hundred yards. In the evening 



we visited a hill frequented by gurral, and both N 



and myself missed a couple of shots apiece at disappearing 

 gurral. I next had a shot at a rocketing cheer (one of 

 the larger species of pheasants), but failed to bag him, 

 possibly owing to the small-sized shot I was using, for 

 he was hit. A little later I met with a khakar (very 

 small deer of about the size of a mastiff, found at 8000 

 feet), which I killed. Neither gurral nor khakar are 

 easily distinguishable as to sex at sight, the female of 

 the former carrying small horns. It was meat for the 

 larder of which we were badly in need. On the return 

 journey to camp I shot a brace of pheasants flying down 

 the khad (steep slope), right and left, but received a 

 " back-hander " a little later in missing a black partridge. 

 That morning we marched eleven miles, a wearying 

 trudge. The only game we saw consisted of two black 

 partridges, one of which I bagged. 



Jangla Bungalow, 

 Tehri, Gharwal 

 May i8ih, 1906. 



We are still on the march. At present we are some 

 11,000 feet up. To-morrow we reach Gangotsa, which 

 you will find marked on any decent-sized map of India. 

 The scenery is lovely, but we are still in the valley, and 

 the cold is therefore not very intense yet. The birches, 

 sycamores, currants, violets, strawberries, and so forth 

 are bursting into flower or leaf. These and the deodars 

 clothe the hills up to some 2000 feet above us, and then 

 come the everlasting snows. 



The Baghirathi (Ganges) flows between sheer cliffs 



