DOWN THE KILIK VALLEY. 99 



and I was quite unsteady, but took the chance, 

 threw up my rifle and fired. The bullet fell 

 short into the snow. Giving a little more eleva- 

 tion, I tried the second barrel, but with no better 

 success. So, after giving the nullah one more 

 chance, and finding my friends comfortably settled, 

 evidently for the day, with a fine extensive view 

 all round, we agreed to change our ground, and 

 gave orders to march the caravan down to the 

 mouth of the Kilik. 



Bower was to try the left side of the valley, 

 and I started up towards the col, from Kuk- 

 turuk. Here there were fresh tracks of a good 

 herd of gooljas, but I got to the crest of the pass 

 without seeing them. At the top of the col a 

 rocky spur came down from the left, shutting out 

 the view like a wall, and we (the shikari and 

 myself) had to work our way round the end of 

 it before we could see the snow-slopes above. 

 There were the herd, busy digging up the snow 

 to get at the grass. 



As the wind is very shifty on these heights, we 

 got back quickly, and made a detour to get well 

 above them. It took an hour's hard walking, 

 crossing a succession of rocky spurs from 10 to 

 20 feet in height. Climbing each one cautiously, 



