UNCONDIGN PUNISHMENT. 19 



on to the ground from any height whatsoever. I once saw a 

 bear I had shot at roll over and over like a ball down an 

 almost perpendicular declivity for several hundred feet, and 

 seemingly without much inconvenience from its tumble, as it 

 was nowhere to be found at the bottom. 



When two or more bears are found together, on one of 

 them being wounded it will sometimes show its resentment by 

 savagely attacking one of its companions. In illustration of 

 this, I may relate an amusing little episode, as told to me 

 by that well-known old Indian sportsman, Colonel E. Smyth. 



"My friend Mr Beckett once stalked a large she-bear 

 feeding in some open ground with a half-grown cub at its 

 side. He could not get a shot at a vital place, and so instead 

 of waiting, as he ought to have done, he fired and hit the 

 animal in the hind-quarters. He might just as well have hit 

 her with a lady's riding- whip. The animal turned round to 

 see what was the matter, and seeing nothing but her own 

 cub feeding quietly by her side, came to the conclusion, I 

 suppose, that the cub had bitten her in the hind-quarters, for 

 she at once rushed at the cub to punish it for its presump- 

 tion, and the two rolled over and over and disappeared in the 

 jungle. My friend was too much amused at the incident to 

 get another shot." 



The black bear of the Himalayas is not so pugnaciously 

 inclined as its concoloured relative the sloth-bear (Ursus 

 labiatus), which inhabits the hilly districts and jungles of 

 " the plains " of India, the Nilgherries in Madras, and other 

 high ranges of hills. The latter animal is a cantankerous 

 brute that will often attack on the slightest provocation, and 

 sometimes seemingly out of mere " cussedness." Whereas 

 the former generally tries to escape if possible, even when 

 wounded, and seldom shows fight except as a last resource, or 

 in defence of its cubs. Colonel Smyth told me of many ad- 

 ventures he had had with bears. I may give one of his 

 experiences in his own words. 



