ough feebleness; and
was now tumbling down the ravine, without strength enough to stay his
descent.

In another instant he lay stretched almost at the feet of the hunters;
for the impetus imparted to his huge carcass in the descent, had brought
it with such a "whack" against a large rock, as to deprive him of
whatever either of blood or breath there had been left in his body.

The hunters, however, made sure of this, by drawing their long knives,
and making an additional vent or two between his ribs--thus securing
themselves against all risk of his resuscitation.

They had now finished with the Himalayan bears of known and unknown
kinds; but Alexis learnt enough from hunters, whom they had encountered
during their sojourn in these mountains, to convince him that great
confusion exists among naturalists as to the different species and
varieties that inhabit the Himalayan range. Of the "snow bear" itself,
a variety exists in the mountains of Cashmere; which, as far as Alexis
could learn, was very different from the kind they had killed. The
Cashmirian variety is of a deep reddish-brown colour, much longer in the
muzzle than the "snow bear," and also a more dangerous antagonist to
man--being a brute of eminently carnivorous propensity and savage
disposition.

"It is quite probable," remarks Alexis, in his journal, "that instead of
three kinds of bears inhabiting the Himalayan range, twice that number
of `species'--or at all events, of permanent varieties--may be found
within the extensive area covered by these stupendous mountains."

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR.

THE LAST CHASE.

Our travellers descended once more to the plains of Hindostan, and
crossed the peninsula by _dak_ to Bombay. From Bombay they sailed
through the Indian Ocean, and up the Persian Gulf to the port of
Bussora, on the Euphrates. Ascending the Tigris branch of this Asiatic
river, they reached the famed city of Bagdad. They were now _en route_
for the haunts of the Syrian bear among the snowy summits of Mount
Lebanon. With a Turkish caravan, therefore, they started from Bagdad;
and after much toil and many hardships, arrived in the city of
Damascus--the scene of so many troubles and massacres caused by the
fanaticism of a false religion.

With these questions our travellers had nothing to do; nor did they stay
any length of time within the walls of the unhappy city. Soon after
their arrival in the place, they obtained all the information the