i82 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



glittering in the morning sun, and higher up turning 

 into large snowfields. It was a grand scene of 

 silence and desolation, creating an impression which I 

 shall never forget. I was roused from my contem- 

 plation of it by the gillie, who flatly declined to go 

 any further, saying that he felt uneasy, being, I sup- 

 pose, subject to giddiness, anei it required no slight 

 threats on the part of the General to induce him to 

 proceed. Following a well-defined bear-path a little 

 below the ridge, "^ we had hardly advanced a few yards 

 when my companion suddenly crouched down, point- 

 ing towards a moving speck ahead of us. It was a 

 huge bear, which I could plainly distinguish through 

 a small gap in the rhododendrons ; the beast was 

 clumsily making its way down the slope some four 

 hundred yards in front of us, probably on a fishing 

 excursion. Turning back to get out of sight, and 

 o-roping my way through the awkward and blinding- 

 brush, I crept in the animal's direction, and on peeping 

 again over a rock I perceived Bruin at 150 yards, 

 steadily advancing to meet us ; a quarter of an hour 

 brought me within shot. Taking a steady aim with 

 my '303, I let go at him. The heavy mass pelted 



* It must be confessed that the paths made by bears greatly faciHtated 

 our getting through the thick covert, which otherwise it would have re- 

 quired superhuman exertions to penetrate. 



