BOOK NOTICE. 195 
work, and many misses must occur unless the hunter is well practised in this 
kind of hunting. At the last shot, the animal, though further off, was nearly 
level with me, and hitting him was easier. Mirza Khan and Ghariba, with 
drawn knife, started off at a frightful pace for the ‘ halal *” (cutting the throat), 
but the ground was most difficult ; they had to go back some distance the way 
we had come, then go down round one slope, cross the ravine and up the opposite 
hillside, on which the markhor was lying. It took them atleast 15 minutes before 
they appeared on the opposite side, whereas the poor old buck had been goat’s 
meat for nearly half an hour! The halal was a failure; but would not have been 
if Sharofa had not been so orthodoxically scrupulous. He shouted out that the 
animal was dead, and that no halal was possible; but to be careful about cutting 
well below the neck, &c., &e. Ghariba, in a rage, shouted back that he would 
halal. Sharofa then said the meat would be“ makruh, ” unlawful ; that was the end 
of the meat. I now found out from Sharofa that, in this country, the game is 
always considered “halal” provided the hunter, after shooting the animal, follows 
him up and never sits down till he has cut his throat, though his last act may be 
performed hours. after the animal has been hit, orisdead. But for this convenient 
interpretation of the laws a good deal of meat would be wasted in a difficult country 
like this. , In all countries, where Mussalmans are the hunters, they always have 
some convenient dodge like the above. Sharofa superintended the eutting off the 
head through the telescope. When this was done we left our perch on the: rock, 
going back and then down hill, making for the main stream. Then up to tent ab 
2-30 p.m.—and so ends the hunt of the 47-inches. Dimensions—length of horn 
round curve, 47 inches; girth at base, 11-25 inches; divergence at tips, 26°75 inches. 
I measured the hoof of one of the forelegs, length, 3:5 inches; breadth at heel, 
2:25 inches. Of my six shots only two took effect ; the third broke the left foreleg 
at the knee, the sixth through the right shoulder—a splendid shot at 300 yards 
‘if not more. 
IBEX SHOOTING, 
I have only another week for sbikar and then my return tramp must begin, so I 
had better make the most of the few days left. Breakfasted, and went down spur ‘ 
into Boin Valley. Had not gone far when a hurricane of wind and snow and sleet 
came on, and I had to crouch behind a rock not much larger than myself on the 
bare hill-side: there was no other cover in sight, a few small birch trees were scat- 
tared about. Remained in this position for an hour; and saw no hope of the storm 
abating somade for camp straight down instead of going along the hill-side towards 
the head of the valley. We were thus obliged to abandon the exploration of a 
most likely portion of ibex country. Had not gone far when the storm suddenly 
‘ame to an end. We regretted much having come down so soon; but a Providence 
directs the movements of a solitary sportsman as well as the march of a nation. 
Sitting on the bill-side and scanning the central ridge of Boin, where I had shot the 
ibex, Mirza Khan saw three large bucks, not far from the spot where the first 
one had been bagged, but about 600 yards further down, towards the end of the 
spur, in the direction of camp! Had the shower not driven us down so low we 
would certainly have missed seeing these three! Two of the ibex were grazing about, 
the third was lying near a large flat white: stone, a capital mark for guiding the 
