THE ABYSSINIAN IBEX 
females. On the 27th I found the same herd, and shot the two large 
males and one female. These were the only three large males on the 
ground. The natives hunt these animals persistently for their flesh, 
skins and horns (which they use for tumblers), and, now they are so 
much better armed, I believe in a very few years the animals will be 
extinct. The three male specimens shot, and a head which I found, all 
had the points of the horns turned inwards; but a pair of horns 
presented to me by Dedjatch Zerefer, which he said were obtained on 
Mount Hi, had the points turned outwards. I found the ibex on the 
eastern slope of Mount Buiheat, one of the highest in the Simien 
range — in the French maps it is marked as 4,510 metres in elevation. 
The top is undulating grass land, with a much -frequented path 
running along close to the edge of the cliffs, at the foot of which is the 
ibex ground. 
“ The cliffs being too high for a shot, and, so far as I could discover, 
there being no direct path down, it seemed to be a favourite amuse- 
ment of passing caravans to roll over stones in the hope of seeing 
a herd disturbed. At the foot of the first line of cliffs, and below 
several lesser, ill -defined lines lower down, are the runs and lying -up 
places of the ibex and klipspringer. The earth and stones dropping 
from above have formed banks some little distance from the face of 
the cliffs, while here and there an overhanging rock forms a roomy 
shelter under it. The ibex appear regularly to use these partly 
concealed runs in moving from one part of the ground to another, 
and it was in them that I found numerous traces of where native 
shikaris had lain up to get a shot at them, generally overlooking a 
drinking -place or a favourite shelter. 
“ The steep ground between the different lines of cliffs is covered 
with long, coarse grass, along which the curious Tree-Lobelia ( Lobelia 
rhynchopetala) grows, besides firs, birch and many scrubby bushes, the 
whole reminding me very much of the kind of place where I have shot 
thar in Kistawar, Kashmir, and being quite unlike any ground where 
I had previously seen ibex. 
“ Even when the animals were feeding in the early morning and 
late afternoon, it was by no means easy to make them out amongst 
the undergrowth. At the foot of the mountains large flocks of sheep 
and goats were grazing, being sheltered at night in caves, the openings 
of which were protected by stone walls and wattles. Lower down there 
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