122 A Sportswoman in India 



near the snows. In the sixties the country was literally 

 swarming with them, and people were afraid to go 

 from one village to another after dark ; they have 

 been shot more of late years, and those palmy days 

 are no more. 



The red bear always hibernates, retiring to some 

 cave at the beginning of winter, and reappearing in 

 April or May, when the snows begin to melt. Absurd 

 stories are told of their sucking their paws and sub- 

 sisting during these months on their own fat ; but 

 as their retreats are buried under many feet of snow, 

 and there is no clue to their whereabouts, I can't verify 

 the fact ! They are generally like a dormouse thin 

 and weak when they first show themselves ; but their 

 hair is longest at this season and the hide itself freest 

 from grease, and therefore more easily cured. 



We got back to our little camp, and were just 

 beginning to feel tea-inclined, when the shikaris and 

 S. appeared. He had shot a bear, some distance off", 

 and had left him there to fetch the next day. They 

 had had a long tramp. 



Leaving Alwas, they followed a rugged and ill- 

 defined path up a steep incline for about four miles, 

 and at last saw a couple of red bear on the grassy 

 slopes ahead of them. They were a long distance off 

 and some way apart one being far up the hill, and the 

 other below them, nearer a river. They determined 

 to try for the one on higher ground first, and accord- 

 ingly went after him. Just as they were getting 

 within long shot, he moved off for some reason best 



