44 THE SNOW BEAR. 



Certainly there are Bears and Bears, and some species are undoubtedly cross grained 

 and occasionally dangerous, but the subject of the present chapter, which is either identical 

 with, or closely allied to, the Syrian Bear, is, as a rule, a most inoffensive and harmless 

 animal. 



Until recently, and I believe even now, any one visiting Kashmir might make a very 

 large bag of Snow Bears ; but as they are found on hills which are also the habitat of much 

 more worthy objects of the chase, the energetic sportsman will soon get tired of slaughtering 

 beasts which require so little skill. I am sorry to say, however, that some Englishmen 

 not only shoot every Bear they can come across in a legitimate way, but fire absurdly long 

 shots at them, thereby often merely wounding the poor brutes ; and others who are not 

 satisfied with their bag, employ their Shikaris to shoot Bears for them. Such unsportsman- 

 like conduct requires no comment. 



A few old Bears, however, are worth shooting for the sake of their skins, provided that 

 there is no danger of disturbing nobler game. 



When I first visited Kashmir, I was of course anxious to kill a Bear, and well remember 

 my delight, when, on the first day of my arrival in the valley, I was awoke from a sound sleep 

 by a coolie who came running up to inform me that he had just seen two Bears. Being a 

 Kashmiri, he could not deny himself the gratification of telling a lie, but it turned out that 

 he had seen one. Seizing my rifle, I quickly ran out, and had not proceeded more than two 

 hundred yards from the tree under which I had been sleeping, before I saw a Snow Bear 

 leisurely sauntering along, occasionally stopping to dig up a root or turn over a stone. 

 Ensconcing myself behind a tree towards which he was making, I waited until he passed 

 within thirty yards, when a bullet from my rifle dropped him, and one or two more finished 

 him. His skin, though not particularly large, was as soft and handsome as any I have ever 

 seen. This took place on the 4th of May, 1861. 



After paying a visit to S'rinugger and engaging a new Shikari (poor fellow ! he was 

 accidentally shot next year by an officer), I went into the district of Dagowan in search of 

 Bears. For the first two or three days I did not see a single animal, although pretty recent 

 traces were abundant. 



On the 15 th, as I was dressing at the door of my tent, a Snow Bear made his appear- 

 ance a few hundred yards off. I was soon in pursuit of him, but as he was travelling and 

 not feeding, I had a long stern chase and only wounded him by a long shot. We then 

 determined to try another hill which was not very far off. 



The ground was a series of high ridges of rock running from top to bottom of the 

 mountain, with green ravines between them, and occasional patches of jungle. We went 

 down along one of the ridges, and the Shikari soon discovered a Bear feeding far below us. 

 Shortly afterwards he saw a Serow about four hundred yards lower down. As he was 

 pointing it out to me, a fine Bara Sing stag crossed the same open space with a Snow Bear 

 in hot pursuit of him, and immediately afterwards another Bear appeared coming up the 

 ravine. Being on a high cliff I had to make a long circuit in order to get near this collection 

 of beasts, and had an awkward climb for it. At last we got near the place, and I saw a 



