CHAMBA 39 



how we fed, as the place was rather off the beaten 

 track and sahibs very seldom came that way. One 

 man asked Will if he might bring his wife and family 

 from a distant village to look at him, as they had 

 never seen a white sahib. 



The village shikari came to us one day late in the 

 afternoon and said that there was a black bear up a 

 jammu tree, eating the black-coloured fruit, which 

 was now ripe, and he had left a man to watch the 

 bear and had come on quickly to let us know. I 

 went out with him for about two miles and it was 

 then growing dark. The bear had shifted his 

 quarters, but we found him busily eating away up 

 in another tree. It seemed funny to me then to 

 shoot a bear at the top of a tree, as it was the first 

 one I had ever seen up so high in that position. He 

 was about sixty yards away, and he fell down as I 

 fired, roaring loudly. We found him dead not far 

 from the spot, and I said that he was not a very big 

 one. The village people assured me that he was 

 indeed a very large and old bear. I said that he 

 might be five feet, but I thought not more. They 

 did not agree with me, and the shikari said it was 

 one of the sort that grows to be very old without 

 increasing much in size ! I was not able to contradict 

 that statement, as my experience of Chamba bears 

 was limited. 



The next bear gave us more excitement. Both 

 Will and I went out on the following evening to the 

 same jungle, which was covered with the fruit trees 

 called by the villagers jammu. Will saw two bears 

 and went after them, but could not get a shot, and 



