vii BEAR-DRIVE 201 



trees on it being smashed into bits by the constant 

 avalanches. It is also exceedingly steep. Owing to 

 this it was most difficult to find a place from which I 

 could command the precipices to the Gave. At first I 

 placed myself about half-way up, and sat there for about 

 half an hour ; but I was not satisfied, as I did not com- 

 mand the ground at the foot of the precipices well, 

 along which, if a bear was in the beat, I thought it 

 most probable he would come, owing to the very dense 

 undercover on the band of forest in front of the post. 

 I accordingly changed and went up nearly to the top, 

 so that no bear could pass me that way, and I would 

 be able to fire at anything below me. I had 

 been about an hour there when along the sides 

 of the rocks I saw a magnificent old bear come 

 bounding along, followed by a very small, naked-looking, 

 little brown cub. The old bear's coat waved in the 

 wind as she went, the tuft on her shoulders being very 

 conspicuous. She was up a bit on the rocks at the 

 foot of the precipices, and as she came to the corner 

 overlooking the couloir, pulled up for a moment and 

 looked about her on all sides. She was about 70 yards 

 off, and I gave her a pill as soon as possible. At the 

 shot, without a growl, she rolled herself up in a ball, 

 with her head between her legs, and fell in a lump off 

 the little cornice she was on into the wood below. 

 There was no sound afterwards. But I saw the cub for 

 a second or two hopping about aimlessly and looking 

 disconsolate, so I seized up three or four cartridges, 

 loaded again, and slipped down quietly and sat down 

 on the rocks close to the place she had fallen into. 

 After about twenty minutes, not hearing anything, I 

 went to the place the bear had fallen, and found pools 

 of blood and the impression of her body where she had 

 hit the ground ; from this the blood led straight down 



