A HUGE BEAR 183 



downhill, oivino- me a second chance for the other 

 barrel before it disappeared in the depths of the ravine. 

 A loud growl from below convinced me that at least 

 one of the bullets had told. Both the General and I 

 dashed wildly down the slope, nearly breaking our 

 necks over a sheer fall, which it took us some time to 

 turn. We soon struck the beast's spoor, leading 

 straight to the bottom of the gully, where we found 

 the animal lying stone dead half-way down a snow- 

 slide, and with one push rolled him to the side of the 

 stream. According to the General, he weighed over 

 eighteen poods (a pood = thirty-two pounds), which 

 meant a great deal more in September, at the end of 

 the fishinof season. The coat was of a lightish brown 

 colour (dark ones, as I am told, being very rare in 

 Kamchatka), and still in its winter condition, thick 

 and well-furnished. My companion showed me the 

 local method of telling the approximate weight of a 

 bear, which they do by measuring the length from 

 snout to root of tail with the outstretched hand ; so 

 many tchctvcrts, or hands, denote a corresponding- 

 number of poods. But since the weight varies con- 

 siderably at different times of year, this calculation is 

 not always correct. 



We left the gillie to skin this, my first trophy, and 

 continued up the ravine over steep, hardened snow 



