130 EIGHT AND LEFT AT BEARS. 



help it, and more especially as I had not up to that time 

 killed a brown bear, or, as it is sometimes called, a snow-bear. 

 Taking care to keep well to leeward, we easily got up to 

 within a few yards of them ; for although these bears, like 

 all their tribe, have a marvellously acute sense of smell, their 

 eyesight is comparatively defective so much so, that when 

 occupied feeding, one might almost approach them behind the 

 cover of their own hairy bodies, if not to windward of them. 

 The first shot was planted well behind the shoulder of the 

 nearest beast, which went trundling head over heels clown 

 the hillside, until it fell into the torrent below, where we 

 afterwards found it in a deep pool. Before the other fellow 

 had recovered from his astonishment, the contents of my 

 second barrel were into him. With a loud grunt he started 

 off downwards, but before he had gone very far we could see 

 that his race was nearly run, for he showed certain symptoms 

 of approaching dissolution. I was the more satisfied at hav- 

 ing shot these two beasts right and left, because, even if a 

 lucky fluke, as it probably was, it impressed old Earnzan with 

 the idea at the time, however erroneous it might afterwards 

 prove, that his endeavour to show me ibex might not be quite 

 fruitless, and he, consequently, would be more likely to take 

 pains to find them. 



The Himalayan brown bear ( Urms isabellinus) or " Kooneea 

 Harpat," as it is called in Cashmere, usually inhabits the 

 cold regions of the higher ranges near the snow. But being 

 omnivorous like the black bear (here called " Seeah Harpat "), 

 it is often found as low down as the Cashmere valley, which 

 is only 5000 ft., where it grows fat on fruit and grain, and 

 even carrion, for which latter it has a great predilection, when 

 it can find it. I once shot a big brown bear in the Cashmere 

 valley while the beast was in the act of devouring the putrid 

 remains of a dead cow. In spring, after waking up from its 

 winter snooze, it carries little or no fat, its food then chiefly 

 consisting of green grass, which may often be seen regularly 



