SHOOTING, ETC. 1 6 1 



loader, which up to eighty yards threw an ounce-ball 

 very straight. 



In the afternoon I came upon a deep ravine run- 

 ning round the base of an exceedingly rough hill-side. 

 A few bleached, weather-beaten old trees stood out 

 high over the coarse bamboo-grass. This kind of grass 

 grows eight or ten feet high, and affords the finest 

 cover possible for big game. Going down-hill I have 

 often passed through its smooth stems with compara- 

 tive ease, as it always slopes that way, but to go up 

 hill is quite impossible. Keeping along the edge of 

 the ravine, and looking down into the great matted 

 creepers and low scrubby thorn clumps, I could not 

 help thinking what a place for an old bear to take up 

 his quarters in ! A beautiful white-headed eagle, which 

 I suppose had been quietly watching my movements 

 from the branches of one of the dead trees, now thought 

 he would try a closer inspection, and sailed lazily down 

 towards me, passing two or three times round my head, 

 and then returning to the hill-side. 



Just then a strange sound came from the grass 

 on my left. I stopped and listened, wondering what 

 it could be. In a second or two it again occurred. 

 " A bear," I said to myself, and " close at hand ;" and 

 slipping a bullet down on the top of the snipe-shot, I 



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