NATURALIST IN INDIA. 103 



Night-jars (the whip-poor-will of Central Asia) sent forth an 

 occasional " tvM-v^o'' as they flitted noiselessly past us, when, 

 through a gap in the jungle, we observed a stalwart native 

 approaching. He had a matchlock on his shoulder, and was 

 dressed in gray home-spun flannel His appearance and habit 

 were characteristic of the Himalayan shickaree ; the long 

 flowing beard, ample turban, short tunic fastened round the 

 waist by a belt of light-brown sambar-skin, to which the 

 powder-horn and pouches were attached, capacious breeches 

 ending at the knees, from which the Umbs were encircled with 

 flannel bandages to the ankle, while on his feet- were sandals 

 made of grass, and several pairs ready for use were attached 

 to his girdle. He was one of those houseless wanderers 

 similar to the trapper or leatherstocking of Fenimore Cooper, 

 who made his livelihood by tracking the wild denizens of the 

 mountain and forest. He had heard of our arrival on the 

 Chor, and came to offer his services and show us where bears 

 and deer were plentiful Although an old man, he was stUl 

 wiry and active, and Uke aU whose lives have been constantly 

 spent in the dangerous excitement of the cragsman's, he had 

 intense pleasure in recounting his past exploits, especially 

 ibex-hunting in Kuloo, and the days when, in the service of a 

 British ofl&cer, . he had led him to places where the " burrel 

 and ibex were plentiful as sheep." 



This was my first introduction to one of a race with whom 

 many of my subsequent adventures were intimately asso- 

 ciated ; he was the type of a set of as fine manly fellows as one 

 could meet anywhere — men whose lives have been spent among 

 the dizzy crags and towering mountaiu-tops ; early taught to 

 court difficulties and dangers, they fear no hardships, and 

 are insensible to fatigue. With such the young Englishman 

 gratifies his love of adventure, as with pole he picks his way 



