4 i4 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



aiming at the head. The bullet narrowly missed hitting A on 

 the leg, as after passing through the bear's head it entered the 

 ground alongside A's thigh. 



The river Lemro for a distance of quite two miles is thickly 

 wooded on either bank with Jack fruit trees, and bears, sambur, 

 and pigs are often to be found feeding during the early hours 

 of the morning and in the evening ; the whole atmosphere is 

 sometimes impregnated with the sickly odour of Jack fruit, 

 and during the night the sounds of the over-ripe fruit falling 

 to the ground may be heard for a considerable distance. 

 Bears are also found in hilly rocky places in deep ravines, and 

 in tree forest where there is a certain amount of undergrowth. 

 The sportsman should always look up those localities where 

 wild mangoes and other fruit trees are plentiful, as bears are 

 particularly partial to fruit. I will now relate the circum- 

 stances under which I got another bear in the hills between 

 the village of Chaukmaw and Pinkan, in the Momeik State of 

 the Ruby Mines district. 



While riding along the road from Pinkan to Chaukmaw, 

 accompanied by Moung Kyun Thet, one of my hunters, and 

 two of his companions, we came on the tracks of a bear. 

 The animal had apparently been regaling itself during the 

 early hours of the morning on wild mangoes, which were 

 plentifully strewed about on either side of the road. After 

 dismounting and sending my pony on to Chaukmaw we took 

 on the tracks of the bear, which led up a steep ridge. I had 

 with me an 8-bore rifle and 12-bore shot-gun; the latter 

 burned a maximum charge of 4^ drams of powder and carried 

 a spherical ball. The track took us up and down hill over 

 some very rough and steep ground, and, as the sun was ex- 

 tremely warm, walking was, to say the least of it, hard work. 

 The bear having covered a considerable amount of ground, 

 we eventually gave up in disgust, as I saw that if we went 

 much further we should not be able to return to Chaukmaw 

 that night. We accordingly turned our faces homeward and 

 took our way down a very steep rocky incline. Being a fast 

 walker, and having made my gun over to one of my men, 

 I pushed on ahead, intending to take a drink at the stream 

 whose waters could be heard roaring at the bottom of the 



