Bears (Asiatic]. 223 



I shot one here and there In Assam I killed several. 

 In the Cossyah and Jyntiah hills I also killed a few. 

 I was charged once or twice by bears, but was 

 neither mauled myself nor were any of my followers 

 hurt. But my own adventures with these beasts are 

 very tame compared to the following adventure of a 

 friend. 



Towards the end of April, 1849, Colonel, then Lieu- 

 tenant, Nightingale, of the Nizam's Irregular Cavalry, 

 one of the best sportsmen that ever lived, started 

 for the Neermal jungles, and Douglas Scott, of my 

 regiment, accompanied him. He was the only man 

 I ever heard of who made " bear-spearing " a regular 

 pursuit. Bears have doubtlessly been occasionally 

 speared by others, but only in isolated and rare cases. 

 In the first place, they are seldom met with in 

 ridable ground, and in the second, not one horse out 

 of fifty will face them. I will continue the narra- 

 tive in Nightingale's own words. 



" Scott could not get leave just then, but followed 

 a few days after me. On April 25th I reached 

 Polumpilly, a small village near which good shoot- 

 ting is to be had. I went out to the hills, a mile 

 distant, to look for a tigress said to live there, but 

 after a long walk, having found nothing more than 

 fresh prints in the sand, I gave it up, and commenced 

 to throw crackers into various dens without success. 

 Suddenly, however, when we were sitting down to 

 rest, out rushed two bears from a hiding-place and 

 made off with such swiftness that they escaped 

 unscathed. 



"28th. Eeached Hurroolah to-day. There is a 

 rocky range half way between this and the last stage, 



