THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
scanty herbage and are without water. For the most part the ranges 
are long, narrow ridges, sometimes with jagged, rocky outcrops on the 
summits, and at other times so smooth and even that one can ride over 
them. 
The lack of water has no effect on the game, for they appear to be quite 
independent of it, although I have seen herds of females with young coming 
to drink in midsummer at a small spring of water. I think the males 
are quite independent, and move away in summer to ranges where there 
is no water at all, leaving the females on the ranges where small springs 
exist. There is not sufficient water for the hard-pressed Arabs of this 
district, much less for the wild animals. 
The centre of the Syrian ibex ground is Palmyra, or Tadmor, which can 
be reached in four or five days on horseback from Damascus, or in two 
days by carriage from Homs. Northwards and southwards stretch the 
long, low, serrated ridges where the ibex are found. Those to the south 
are inhabited by many ibex — this to my own knowledge — but having been 
there twice — in early spring and during the heat of summer — I cannot 
recommend them. The country is small, it is occasionally disturbed by 
Arab hunters from the desert villages of Karietein and Palmyra, and 
bucks are very scarce. But to show what these exceptionally arid moun- 
tains can produce I will say that in one day I have seen my hunters kill, 
with their antique guns, two ibex and two wild boar in one drive. On 
another occasion we got five ibex. The natives always resort to driving, 
for the narrow hills are very favourable to such methods, the Arabs only 
desiring to kill females for food and hides. Their implicit trust in the 
success of their method is, however, most difficult for the European 
hunter to deal with, especially as it is necessary to take a certain number 
of local natives along as guides. 
There is a perennial spring about thirty miles south-west of Palmyra 
where one can camp at any season and hunt the surrounding country. In 
1905, my companion, Mr J. H. Miller, procured an old gnarled head in 
this locality which measured 27| inches in length and 9| inches in circum- 
ference at the base. It was a small, but very thick, and perfectly formed 
pair of horns, which gave one the impression that they belonged to a 
miniature type of ibex. The beast itself was smaller in proportion to the 
northern race and very light coloured. 
I should suggest that the ranges to the north of Palmyra might be well 
worth a visit. There are ibex in the hills within view of the oasis, and 
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