Year: 1876

BEAR-sROOTIEG IN INDIA.
The papers have informed us that the
Prince of Wales killed some sloth
bears in the swamp jungles of the Terai.
This bear is one of the most dangerous
animals in India; if he succeeds in get
ting hold of his enemy he holds on till
he thinks he has killed him, or
Till he is driven off He is generally
found among mountains, where he af-
fords not only an exciting sport, but a
vast amount of hard labor to sportsmen
on foot. On elephants the sport is tame;
the bear is slow in his ordinary pace,
and is easily seen; in his charge he is
rapid, frightening elephants more than
hurting them; his grunt is very ferocious,
and his eye exceedingly savage; when
in full plumage he looms large and pow
erful; the hair is so thick at times that
it weakens the effect of bullets. Moor
croft and sent our sleeping tent to some
herdsmen's sheds on the Mahabuleswah
range; we reached the place at dusk;
the jack-fruit trees showed marks of re-
cent claws, and our shikaree reported
three bears, one of which was a very
large one. Starting before daybreak next
morning we placed ourselves on the edges
of a tongue of bare land, with a thick
Jungle running to the mountain top. A
thick fog was rising from the lowlands;
we could not see one another, or any OBJ
ject at twenty yards distant; luckily the
moisture rose rapidly; the voices of the
shikarees were heard on the heights, and
double shot from Moorcroft told of
game afoot. @


Looming as large as buffalo on the
higher ground, through the thin mist, l
was aware of an animal coming down
upon us-at thirty yards gave him two
shots from a smooth-bore, and then
stretched back a hand for my rife. The
caitiff bearer had bolted; ran, and seiz-
ing the rifle from his shoulder fired
hasty shot; running on 1 saw the monster
half way down the precipitous end of
the tongue. Nothing could have been
more beautiful than the sight-the gray
dawn of day, then the envelope of mist,
its rapid rise, its prismatic colors from
the rising sun, the weird shouts of the
unseen shikarees, and the dash of the
bear along the open ground. On examin-
ing his track, blood-spots and blood
smears told of severe wounds. As soon
as the men could be collected, including
my runaway, we followed on into an op-
posite ravine thick with jungle; here the
bear was traced into a wonderful thicket
formed by the boughs of creeper, en-
tangled in every possible direction, in
penetrable, dark, and dank. A shikaree
crept in, soon to come out again, signal
ing us to follow.


After creeping in among the thick
tangle for few yards in utter silence,
except from the dry sticks that cracked
beneath our knees, we saw the bear
about twelve feet from us, with an al.
most impenetrable barrier between US.
We knew that if he got at us we could
not get out again. Our safety was in
hitting vital spot; but this was hard to
do, owing to his position and the thick
ness of the cover. We crept on as close
as we could get; there was strong yell /;
the smoke hindered our sight; we had
reserved barrel each, but, before we
could see, the bear had got out. We fol-
lowed as quick as possible, and, no sooner
had we got out, than the piercing scream
of a human being told of mischief up
the gorge. 5ET7E Tf @


An old man and his wife were gather
ing Jungle fruit the bear seized the wo-
man by the heel, dragged her dowr from
the tree, and was beginning to maui her,
when our men ran up and disturbed him.
The bear was badly hurt: he got behind
rock. where Moorcroft settled him,
while attended to the old woman, who
had two great holes through her left
heel. No wonder she screamed. The
bear was a very fine one, and the grease
we made from him was beautiful.


We got up party of six to show a
navy captain some bear-shooting near
Poona. A ride of twelve miles brought
us to our shikarees and weapons, with
two bears in the hills; the guns were
duly posted, and the game was reused.
AS they took an opposite direction to my
rock, l ian down the hill and mounted
my horse. Several shots were fired; there
was great scrimmage among the beaters,