native shikaris, though scarce and demanding high
wages, áre to be obtained, and are reliable and honest.
They are generally only known to the " old hands,” who
are inclined to keep them as a “ close corporation,” but
an introduction works wonders in the East, and no big
expedition should be undertaken without obtaining the
advice of one who knows the country, and can put the
novice up to the ropes.
Leopards are scarce in the valley, the snow leopard
(ounce) almost unknown, and my friend considered that
a leave of three months had been well spent, as he
captured one nearly a t the end of the time. Somewhere
beyond the limits of Kashmir their skin is very handsome,
and makes a beautiful trophy. The curious want
of unanimity among specialists as to the real differences
between the leopard and panther inclines the outsider
to the belief that the points of divergence have been
merely engendered by different circumstances of life.
Wolves are also rare, though a variety of the black
sort is often obtained in the tablelands beyond the
Zogi La; but the jackal, hardly worthy of the name
of game animal, is very common, and their dismal
nocturnal cries added a strange dreariness to the
surroundings of a lonely camp up the valley. Foxes
are fairly common, and are much valued for their very
beautiful skins, wherefore the “ Loh ” has little chance
of escaping the poaching villager with an eye to gain,
rugs and cloaks of their fur commanding good prices
in the city. Of bears (“ harpat,” in Kashmirian parlance)
there are two varieties—the black bear (Ursus
tibetanus), so called because it does not exist there, and
the red bear, the | lal harbat ” of the native. The former
are still to be got in fair quantities, and are "unpleasant