xi THE BEAR 239 



conceive the possibility of escape for any bear or other creature 

 below the standard of a buffalo, if the hunter is a cool and steady 

 shot. The conditions of this theory will include a solid bullet, not 

 a hollow projectile dignified by the term " Express." 



I will conclude this notice of the bear with an example of the 

 failure of the hollow bullet, -577 Express, fired by a native gentle- 

 man, Zahur al Islam, when shooting with me in the reserves of 

 Singrampur in the Central Provinces last winter. 



We were driving for any kind of animals that the jungle might 

 produce, and, being on foot, we constructed the usual little hiding- 

 place by cutting half through a sapling about 3 feet from the root, 

 and bearing down upon the young tree so as to form a horizontal 

 rail in front of our seat ; a similar cut at the back of another 

 sapling about 3 inches thick, facing the stem already laid, and that 

 was also pressed down to interlace with the branches of the prostrate 

 tree. This makes a screen which can be rendered still more opaque 

 by the addition of a few green boughs. 



The grass was parched to a bright straw colour, and was about 

 4 feet high. As the beaters approached, a bear rushed forward 

 and passed within 1 5 paces of Zahur. He fired ; the bear emitted 

 a short growl and passed on. 



I assisted in tracking this animal by the blood upon the grass. 

 Zahur described the shot he had taken as oblique ; as the bear had 

 passed him, therefore the bullet must have struck either the hind- 

 quarters full, or the thigh. 



We found a teak tree about 14 inches in diameter covered with 

 small pieces of flesh resembling sausage-meat, for a height of 6 feet 

 from the ground. The yellow grass at the foot of this tree was 

 covered with blood, and many minute fragments of flesh adhered 

 to the leaves. Searching the place carefully, we picked up two 

 pieces of bone covered with blood ; these were very thick and 

 strong, the larger fragment being 2 \ inches in length and 1 inch in 

 width, evidently pieces belonging to the upper portion of the 

 thigh. 



After tracking the wounded bear for about 200 yards through 

 the high grass and jungle, we came to a tolerably deep nullah, 

 where we expected to find the animal lying down. Instead of this, 

 we discovered another large piece of fractured thigh bone, which 

 proved that the hollow Express bullet, although '577, had broken 

 up upon striking the bone, instead of penetrating throughout the 

 body. The muscles of the thigh and the bone had been shattered 

 to atoms, and the flesh so completely exploded that it had flown in 

 all directions, dispersed in the smallest fragments ; nevertheless 



