Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 93 (Color Image)

0093	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

A SHOOTING EXPEDITION 63

8-1.- inches. He was 22/ inches round the belly

and 5 inches from ear to ear. The face was brown

on top and white underneath and there was a

blackish stripe from each eye. The ears were

black on top and white underneath. The skin is

regarded as of more value than the skin of the

pandar. The animal is uncommon, and Pereira's

hunters, though they had seen some, had never

shot one.

After this it came on to snow hard. He feared

being snow-bound in this uninhabited region, and.

was about to return to his headquarters, when the

hunters returned to say they had cornered a

serow high up in the cliffs a long way off, and they

wanted leave to shoot it as they said Pereira could

never get to the place. Cold and miserable, he

was at first inclined to agree, but eventually

decided to go on the off-chance of getting a shot.

After 2 miles of very rough going he reached

the spot, and the serow was pointed out to him

high up among the cliffs. He could hardly see it

except now and then when it came from behind a

rock to look over a precipice. It was only while

standing that he could see it, and he had to fire at

300 yards range, one man behind him and another

supporting his arm. But he managed to shoot

her and she fell over the precipice. She was

80 inches long, 46 inches round the body, and the

length of horns was 81 inches. The serow is the

only representative of its family. The Americans

call it the goat antelope. And it looks something

between a goat and a deer. The Chinese call it

ai-lu or shan-lu, that is, precipice donkey or hill

donkey.

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