WHERE TO HIT HIM. 27 



a bear by shooting at its shoulder, but seldom or never since 

 I learnt from experience where the most vital spot lay pro- 

 vided I was able to plant a bullet there. 



Shooting black bears, though sometimes rather exciting, is, 

 to my mind, the least interesting of any Himalayan sport ; 

 for the beasts are not often found in the open, and therefore 

 seldom afford the pleasure of a stalk. And when you have 

 secured your bear, its skin is of little value as a trophy, as 

 the hair is coarse and wiry. But in killing a bear you have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing the villagers 

 a service, not only by ridding them of the greatest enemy to 

 their crops, but in providing them with bear's grease, which 

 they consider a most efficacious emollient for rheumatism. 



Village beehive. 



