346 
W/LB BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
Thirty-five years ago, I was in a wild portion of 
the Pyrenees, in the hope of finding bears at the 
first snows of winter, when by extreme bad luck a 
fall took place so suddenly and severe that a pass 
was blocked, which prevented my arrival at a 
narrow valley, between the lofty mountains named 
Tram-Saig. I had been assured that the bears 
would hybernate at the commencement of winter, 
and that they could only be found at the season 
when the first snow-fall would expose their tracks. 
On the following day I managed to get through 
the pass, and to my intense disgust, upon arrival, I 
found that I was a day too late, as the Maire, who 
was a great chasseur^ had killed two bears, a mother 
and half-grown young one, on the preceding day, 
thus verifying the information I had received. 
I saw the freshly killed skins pegged out to dry, 
and a few days later I ate a portion of the paws in 
an excellent stew when dining with the Prefect 
of Bagneres-de-Bigorre, to whom they were for¬ 
warded as an esteemed present. 
The larger bear-skin gave me the impression 
that the original owner must have been the size of 
a heifer twelve or fifteen months old. This was the 
ordinary brown bear of Europe, which still exists in 
Transylvania, Hungary, Italy, and especially in 
Turkey. The same bear inhabits Asia Minor, and 
both these varieties hybernate at the commence¬ 
ment of winter. In the extensive forests and 
mountains about Sabanja, beyond the Gulf of Ismid, 
I have seen the wild fruit trees severely injured 
