164 THE HUNTING GKOUNDS 



gooloo, the Mulliarry, and two villagers who knew 

 the bears' caves. 



Although the hill was not more than 800 feet in 

 height it was very steep, and the ascent was the 

 more difficult on account of numberless rocky crags 

 which were entwined with thick bush. At last we 

 managed to climb up the dry bed of a watercourse, 

 in which we noticed the fresh traces of bears in 

 many places, and after a good deal of scrambling 

 and climbing up ledges of rock, we arrived at the 

 summit, which was a small table-land covered with 

 tufts of coarse grass and large boulders of rock. 



As we were going along Googooloo suddenly 

 stopped, gave his usual grunt to attract attention, 

 and tapping me on the shoulder, pointed me out 

 two bears at the foot of the hill. With the aid of 

 my glass I could see they were very busily engaged 

 in digging up the earth ; so, setting the Mulliarry 

 to watch their movements, I went on to the caves, 

 and, after a careful examination, found seven en- 

 trances, five of which bore marks of being inhabited 

 by bears. 



I sent one of the villagers and Googooloo to bring 

 up the rest of the party as quietly as possible, so as 

 not to disturb the game we knew was afoot, and by 

 the time they arrived, I and the other villagers had 

 managed to block up the two smallest entrances 

 (which did not seem to have been frequented of 

 late) with stones and pieces of rock. 



I posted B on a rock which commanded the 



