128 THE GOORAL. 



a fair-sized buck the evening I arrived, and might have shot several next day, but would 

 not fire at them for fear of disturbing Tahr. On the third morning as we were marching 

 to Ti'sa, I saw a buck Gooral some way below the road : it was a longish shot, but I succeeded 

 in killing him where he lay. 



One day in April 1882, when marching in the province of Chamba, I was waiting for the 

 breakfast coolies near a spring on the slopes above a foaming torrent, which roared along its 

 rocky bed about two hundred feet below me. The hill-side on which I sat was steep, but 

 covered with forest ; while on the opposite side of the stream nearly perpendicular cliffs 

 overhung it, traversed by ledges overgrown with long grass and bushes, and here and there 

 broken by ravines. 



I had not sat long before my Shikari, (one of the most energetic of his class that I have 

 ever met with), came to tell me that he had seen a Gooral in the opposite cliffs. Taking my 

 Express rifle I accompanied him a short distance, and soon saw the Gooral feeding among 

 some straggling bushes on one of the ledges just alluded to. The head and neck alone were 

 visible, and the range was about a hundred and twenty yards ; but there was no possible way 

 of approaching nearer. I therefore lay down, and fired as steadily as possible at the animal's 

 throat. It rolled over to the shot, and fell down a few feet into a thick bush, in which, after 

 a struggle or two, it hung suspended, apparently incapable of recovering its footing, though 

 evidently still alive. I could have given it another shot with ease ; but, as the Shikari 

 observed, it would have dropped into the river and been swept away : so I sat down to watch 

 it, while he scrambled down to the water, crossed by some rocks which served as stepping 

 stones, and commenced to climb up towards the Gooral. The little animal, in the meantime 

 somewhat recovered, disengaged itself from the bush, and lay down on a small open space. 

 I could now see with the telescope that my bullet had struck it on the side of the neck, 

 inflicting a severe wound, which apparently paralysed it. I could still have easily shot it 

 again ; but to do so appeared to be quite unnecessary. 



I was now joined by a friend who had been at some little distance when I was first told 

 of the Gooral, and presently his Shikari pointed out another Gooral lying in a sort of cave 

 formed by an overhanging rock, just above where the wounded Gooral lay. F. fired at the 

 second Gooral, which at once dashed off at a great pace ; and the wounded one, roused by 

 the shot, also bounded away, and escaped into the jungle untouched by a shot which I sent 

 after it. 



After breakfast, we proceeded on our march, and as our path led up the opposite hill, I 

 took the Shikari's advice and proceeded to hunt the rocky slopes above the road. After a 

 steepish climb, I sat down to rest for a little, while the Shikari went to the point of a crag, at 

 a little distance, to reconnoitre. He soon beckoned to me, and on my joining him told me 

 that a Gooral was lying down just round the corner of the rock on which we were. I had a 

 little difficulty in getting out to the end of the point, which projected in an awkward manner, 

 and by the time I had screwed myself into a position to shoot, the Gooral's suspicions had 

 been aroused. He only went a few yards, however, before my bullet crashed through his 

 ribs, and he went rolling down the hill till brought up by a narrow path some five hundred 



