Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



experiences in the higher peaks is perhaps worthy 

 of mention. I was sitting one morning on the 

 steep side of a very narrow ravine watching a 

 " thar jugger" opposite; the latter was a con- 

 tinuation of precipices and ledges. Presently a 

 small bear came walking along a ledge ; he never 

 saw nor winded us, and when opposite was barely 

 200 yards distant. I dropped him " in one." For a 

 moment I thought he would stay on the ledge, but 

 he just slipped over, only to be caught up across 

 a projecting rock some twenty feet below ; had he 

 had a kick in him, he would have gone straight to 

 the bottom, but luckily was stone dead. I now dis- 

 covered for the first time that that very valuable 

 man, the tiffin coolie, was wound round with rope. 

 We soon unwound him, and fortune was on our 

 side that day found a stout tree just above the 

 bear, and almost on the ledge. Eound this we 

 fastened one end of the rope, and Hira Singh, 

 descending hand over hand, tied the bear up with 

 the other, and then we all three hauled him to the 

 ledge. Had he been a little bigger, we should 

 have been done. 



We returned by the Bairgraithi valley and 

 passed through some lovely gerou forest, without 

 seeing a stag, however. A native showed me a 

 picked-up horn (single) of the following extra- 

 ordinary dimensions : Length, 39 inches ; girth 

 of beam, just below bez tine, 9^ inches, being 



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