128 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



Heads in Mysore and Travancore are, of course, 

 often much larger than this. The other was a 

 young bull ; uncle and nephew, as Kana suggested. 



We moved camp the next day to the village 

 on the way to the Reserved Forest, I riding with 

 the Forester and an Excise officer, and Tweedie 

 walking with the syce Mihndu. The road lay 

 through the forest, and towards evening I saw 

 two men and a boy, who were on the road in 

 front of me, look into the forest and then begin 

 to run. I shouted and stopped them, and they 

 said that there was a bear near the road. My 

 rifle was not with me, and I did not wish to 

 frighten the mare, so I did not stop to investigate, 

 and rode on to camp. When Tweedie and the 

 syce arrived at the spot it was nearly dark, and 

 the bear made a rush at them, but halted growling 

 at the edge of the forest, and did not actually 

 come out on to the road. Mihndu whirled his 

 stick round his head and gave a loud yell, which 

 may perhaps have had some influence on the 

 bear. In the evening I chaffed him, and said that 

 he was a great bahadur (hero) and had routed 

 the bear, to which he replied : " Kya kare ? 

 Sahib to ghabraia tha" (What was I to do ? 

 The Sahib was flabbergasted) . As Tweedie was a 

 brave man, this was decidedly amusing ; but old 

 Mihndu had a good deal of grit, and did the 

 best thing that could have been done under 

 the circumstances. It is quite possible that the 

 bear's rush may have been checked by his 

 demonstration. 



The sloth-bear of India is a surly, ill-conditioned 

 beast ; and even the black bear of the Himalayas 



