THE TEOPICAL 
AaRICULTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1903, 
could hardly run for laugliter at the \yretched 
Peter who was shedding portions of his raia.ent as 
he fled, G who was a little in advance to the right, 
at last got a chance and took a snapshot. The 
bear gave a roar and bolted up a stony gap on 
the left. I clambered up in hopes of cutting 
him off, and found myself face to face with the 
beast who was doubling back. He looked like 
charging, and I took a hasty shot, which sent 
him flying amongst a shower of loose stones, 
I shouted to G., thinking he was finished off, 
but not a bit of it. A moment later there was 
■ another shot and a loud " Hooroo !" The beast was 
at last dead, wedged in between two boulders be- 
tween which he had fallen. He was the same 
animal G, had wounded in the morning, and 
was a a large male, with a coarse, mangy coat 
covered with thicks. He must have been lying some- 
where round the corner when Peter threw in his 
cracker the result of which was to bolt him out of 
the wrong door. Whether the rest of the family had 
left the cave we had not had time to see, and decided 
• to revisit it at nightfall and lie in wait for them, 
whichever way they went. On getting back we 
found Peter with eyes protruding and teeth chat- 
tering. His fright had reduced him to a jibbering 
idiot for the time being, and every sentence he 
muttered held the word " walaha," 
We spent the rest of the day exploring the im- 
mediate locality and found several caves, the 
„ dusty floors of which bore the clubfooted marks 
"of bears. All these retreats had more than one 
' entrance and deep pockets or fissures in which the 
biutes lay in security and darkness. That 
evening G. with a fine long shot dropj/ed a female 
bear dead as she came shuffling out of her den, and 
I succeeded in missing one of the easiest of shots 
j and scaring, not only the animal at which I fired, 
but two others of wliose presence we were hiiherto 
unaware. In giving chase G. stepped on a tic- 
polonga snake, which writhed round his foot and 
bit at the tough leather of his boot and gaiter before 
it was shaken off and killed. The occurrence had 
a decidedly damping effect, and G., with a face as 
white as his topi, sat down and thought for five 
minutes, then drained off his flask of brandy, and 
suggested curried fowl for dinner. Peter, whose 
culinary resources were unlimited, quite surpassed 
himself that night and gave us an excellent five- 
course dinner, the original materials for which 
were, as far as I can remember, tough cliicken, 
tinned beef, jam and rice. G. soon forgot about 
the polonga, and was hardly visible through the 
smoke of his cheroot as he sketched our plans for 
the next day. 
Unless there is any incident to distinguish it, the 
description of one day's bear shooting is so like 
another that it will suffice to say that we accounted 
for seven animals and a porcupine, which I killed 
with a shot gun, and which we ate, finding the 
meat excellent. We worked our way back slowly, 
coming across several good patches of snipe ground 
on the way. We also saw a great many peafowl 
on the borders ot the coast forests, but, being the 
close season, we had to be content with seeing 
them. In one of the villages at which our bullocks 
were changed we saw a man whose face had, years 
before, been half bitten away by a bear. He was 
an awful-looking object, but for us, fresh from the 
haunts of these vicious brutes, he had a peculiar, 
if morbid, fascination. Peter, in view of a certain 
recollection, refused to look at him, 
—Field, Sept. 6. Tom-tit. 
WHERE GREEN TEA IS GROWN 
(? MADE.) 
A Rangoon paper says that green tea is largely 
grown in Hsipaw and Taung Peng in the Northern 
Shan States, and now that the railway is extended 
to the former station, a considerable quantity will 
doubtless find its way to Burma. The last Ad- 
ministration Report says the new season has 
opened with brighter prospects ; that prices have 
risen and the old stocks in Taung Peng have been 
absorbed. The greater part of this tea crop is used 
for pickled tea, an article to be found in every 
Burmese house and largely used by Burmese at 
every ceremony or in invitation to such ceremonies. 
But the manufacture of dry tea is increasing. It 
was noticed in many places last year where it had 
not been seen before, and it is believed some was 
taken on to Mandalay. The amount of pickled 
tea sent into Burma from the Shan States last year 
by rail was valued at over eight lakhs, and 
dry tea valued at three lakhs was sent during 
the same period. There is also a considerable 
amount carried by carts and pack animals in the 
Ary seskson.— Indian Daily News, Oct. 8. 
♦ 
PEARL OYSTER INVESTIGATIONS IN 
CEYLON. 
It is understood that the investigrations at 
the Marine Laboratory, Galle, by Mr. James 
Hornell have resulted in the settlement of 
several problems that awaited solution and 
is very confident of successful fisheries, if 
Professor Herdman's recommendations to 
Governmenc were carried out. Our contem- 
porary says that Mr. Hornell has received 
authority to bring; a cargo of young oysters 
to Galle, to be placed in the shallow water 
at the foot of the ramparts with a view to 
practically testing whether a transplantation 
of oysters on a large scale to Galle would 
be a useful measure. Mr. Hornell was to leave 
for Trincomalee by the ss. "Lady Havelock" 
last month to make another survey of the 
harbour there and of Lake Tamblegam, coming 
back in time to join Capt, Legge for the 
inspection of the pearl banks next month. 
— >♦ 
TEA AT PESHAWAR : 
GOOD DEMAND FOR GREEN TEA. 
We are indebted to the Rev. J Gelson 
Gregson (who writing on 4th October, had 
just completed a tour of 6,300 miles touch- 
ing Cashmere, Peshawar, Simla &c.) for the 
following interesting information, to which 
we attract the attention of our planters : — 
"It may interest you to hear something about 
the tea trade in Peshawar, a station I visited 
last month— and while there was taken through 
the City and was surprised to see a great many 
tea shops, where cups of tea are sold all day 
long. The Afj^hans and Pathans are great tea 
drinkers, so the tea shops were as numerous in 
Peshawar as whisky shops are in Glasgow. I 
could not help thinking that this would be an 
opening worth cultivating for Ceylon tea, especially 
when I tell you that a very large trade is done 
with China. I was very hospitably entertained 
by one of the largest native merchants in the 
