THE STRAIGHT-HORNED MARKHOOR. 143 



In 1 87 1, I had to visit the station of Dera Ismail Khan on duty, and I took advantage 

 of being so near Markhoor ground to obtain ten days' leave. The Deputy Commissioner 

 kindly laid out horses for me, and I galloped over the dreary forty miles of sand that 

 intervene between Dera and the sanitarium. 



On my way up the steep and rugged path which leads to the top of the hill, I saw some 

 Markhoor by the roadside. I thought that this augured well for my chances of sport. 



Having secured the services of a Shikari named Shahzada, I sent out my bed, some 

 food, and two or three ' mussuks ' of water on the evening of the 24th of September, and, 

 accompanied by Shahzada, took a stroll over the hill in the direction of my sleeping place. 

 We had not gone much more than half a mile when I discovered a male Markhoor feeding 

 under some perpendicular cliffs : he was in a good place to stalk, and we were not long in 

 getting within easy distance. On looking over the rocks I saw two small Markhoor within 

 sixty yards, but I would not fire at them. Shahzada bothered me to fire, but I refused, 

 saying that they were too small : he replied " it is a big one " and became so excited, and 

 made such a noise, that the Markhoor took alarm and made off. It turned out that Shahzada 

 had seen the big one, while I, being a little below him, could not possibly see it, as it was 

 behind a thick bush. The Markhoor halted for a moment after running some distance, 

 and gave me a long snap shot which I just missed. On the way to our bivouac we saw 

 some more Markhoor in the distance, but it was too late to go after them. 



At daylight next morning we commenced to ascend the hill on the opposite side of 

 the valley in which we had slept, and we had not gone far before we saw some Markhoor 

 above us. On reaching the crest of the ridge we found that there was a large flock, eight 

 or ten of them being good-sized males. They were on the very top of the ridge, and it 

 was impossible to stalk them where they were, so I lay down to watch them. They were 

 about three hundred yards off, and Shahzada kept asking me to fire, which of course I 

 would not do. After waiting for more than half an hour, the Markhoor suddenly took fright 

 and made off, and I then found a that Shahzada had again spoiled everything by sending a 

 man for water, who had come straight up the hill and driven the Markhoor away. We 

 marked the direction they went in, and after making a long round, we got to the head of the 

 valley where they had stopped. Here we found eight or nine old fellows lying down in a 

 capital place, but on our way to stalk them we unfortunately disturbed another flock, which 

 went off and gave the alarm. 



Two males were next discovered lying under a tree at the foot of a high precipice. 

 We went round to the top, but I found that we were above three hundred yards off. 

 We, however, managed to scramble down a nullah and reach a level place above the Mar- 

 khoor. I could only see one ; he was lying in the shade of the tree, and was fully one 

 hundred and seventy yards off, but as he was nearly straight below me, I used the lowest 

 sight and shot him dead. The other one then jumped up, but did not show himself till 

 he was more than two hundred yards off, and I missed him. The one killed was a fair 

 specimen of the species : his photograph is here given. 



We were now a long way from home, the day had been very hot, our water was nearly 



