320 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



was in Central India, where big families of them 

 are found amid jungle-clothed hills, in bamboo 

 brakes, and in deep ravines with cool grottos, 

 where they can get shelter from the sun. Some- 

 times we beat for them ; sometimes with the help 

 of an anar, or sort of infernal machine, we bolted 

 them like rabbits from their caves. The first 

 time I tried this method the anar was dropped 

 into a crevice which the bear had thoughtlessly 

 left in the roof of his parlour. The writer stood 

 not without qualms on a narrow path a few 

 yards from the cave's mouth, a hill on one side 

 and a steep drop on the other. First there came 

 a rumbling such as might precede the exit of a 

 gigantic bunny, then out he came full tilt and 

 uttering terrifying noises. Both barrels of my 

 rifle went off, I took a step back, and tripping 

 over a stone fell flat on my back. According 

 to tradition among shikaris, of which care is taken 

 not to leave the British sportsman ignorant, bears 

 always go for the face of a prostrate foe. So 

 for an appreciable instant I was under the pain- 

 ful expectation of feeling the enraged animal 

 beginning on me in the orthodox way. When 

 I got to my feet, however, the bear was gone, 

 and he was soon discovered in extremis at the 

 bottom of the hill, which the reader will justly 

 remark indicated better luck than management. 



