CHETTERPUR. 221 



Bears are often wounded and killed 

 without making any show of resistance, 

 but they sometimes prove very danger- 

 ous assailants, as the following example 

 shows : Travelling one moonlight night 

 in a palanquin between Aska and Ber- 

 hampur, Mr. Minchin was roused by his 

 bearers, who pointed out to him a bear 

 among the bushes near the road ; he had 

 with him a single-barrelled rifle, with 

 which he wounded the bear; it then 

 disappeared over the raised bank of a 

 tank close by, and Mr. Minchin loading 

 again, approached the bank in hopes of 

 another shot. Just as he mounted the 

 bank the bear met him from the opposite 

 side, and, rising on its hind legs, struck 

 its claws with great force into his left 

 breast just over the heart, knocking him 



