NATURALIST IN INDIA. 211 



hore, which in spring might have been stalked low down, were 

 now browsing among the clouds on the peaks of the highest 

 mountains. It was the worst time of the year for hunting ; 

 and had it not been that my shickaree had gained good infor- 

 mation of a herd of tare and markhore on the spurs running 

 towards Zuznar, one of the loftiest peaks of the southern 

 Pinjal, it would have taken a great deal to have induced me 

 to imdergo all the fatigue, discomfort, and dangers of 

 a fortnight's bivouac among the clouds. Before or since I 

 never underwent so much arduous bodily exertion ; and I 

 may truly say never were zeal and determination more amply 

 rewarded. The first week's occupation was chiefly in follow- 

 ing up the trail of a herd of markhore, when one young male 

 and a tare were killed. One day I spied a bear asleep on the 

 decayed branch of a pine on a jutting shelf of rock. I re- 

 member, when the bullet hit him, how, bounding upwards, he 

 fell with a tremendous impetus some 400 feet into the bed of 

 the torrent, and was rapidly borne down and landed high and 

 dry on a bank ; moreover, just as the echoes of my rifle died 

 away, how, looking upwards through the misty vapours, I 

 spied a herd of frightened markhore, led on by a noble old 

 male, all dashing at full speed across the crumbling mountain- 

 top. On the three following days we continued on their trail, ^ 

 sleeping under rocks, and were up and after them as soon as 

 day dawned. However, the wily old buck was invariably on 

 the look-out, always guiding his herd to open and inaccessible 

 places, untU on the afternoon of the third day, tired and 

 wearied from repeated exertion, and vain attempts to circum- 

 vent the vigilant leader, my shickaree was about to clear a 

 spot for the night's bivouac, when we espied the patriarch 

 of the herd on a jutting cliff far above us. Then the old 

 hunter Ajez Khan exclaimed : "We shall have better luck to- 



