228 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
The nearest one to which they are brought in any number being 
at Betwaree, twenty miles lower down the valley. 
Mr. Brooks complains also that large game shooting up the 
Bhageruttee is a profound mistake, and that no Huropean sports- 
man going up the valley should dream of even a chance shot. 
So no doubt it is for those who won’t take the trouble to hunt 
after it, and believe all that an interested villager may tell 
them. I should have been glad to prove to Mr. Brooks that his 
thinking so was a far greater mistake. That large game is now 
much scarcer than it was, is certainly true, but that it is not a 
“thine of the past,” is shewn by the fact that, a very few days 
after Mr. Brooks passed Hursil, my son went out up the Nela 
valley, and within ten or twelve miles of our house, shot in three 
days, eleven male Ovis Burhel and a Snow Bear. The skull of 
one of these Burhel was sent to you, Mr. Editor, in 1875, and was 
said by you to be one of the finest you had ever seen.* Mr, 
Brooks says, nothing will tempt him to come again, but if you, 
Mr. Editor, ever favour our out-of-the-way place with a visit, I 
certainly would not recommend you to leave your rifle behind 
y ou as “ an useless encumbrance.” 
Another complaint is about the price of grain. , This 
is regulated by what it costs to collect it in, (for the locality,) 
large quantities from the surrounding districts, and this is found 
to be about a rupee for eight seers. Mr. Brooks must have 
been imposed upon if he got four or five only. It is supplied to 
travellers by the villagers, and they are generally loth to part 
with any even atthatrate. Where Mr. Brooks’ bunniahs come 
from I cannot imagine. There is not one within forty miles of 
the place. 
I can sympathize with Mr. Brooks on being deprived of 
milk for his tea or coffee for the week he was above Derallee. 
But surely he did not expect to find the valley flowing, not 
metaphorically, but actually, with milk and honey? Yet how 
else could he expect to get milk in a totally uninhabited place 
unless he took some milch animal with him ? 
There, I also have said quite enough about our charming 
valley and its so-called “ misfortunes.” Enough at least I 
hope to set Mr. Brooks’ mind at rest about them, and shew 
him how advisable it is, when in a strange place, to enquire 
a little about things before jumping to conclusions. 
MouNTAINEER. 
Hurpwar, February 10th, 1876. 
# T think it is the finest on record, each horn measures 31 inches in length, and 
over 13 inches in girth at the base.—Eb., 8. F, 
