an a minute I had reached the spot where I had left my friend.
He, and the man with him, had disappeared; but, guided by the shrieks,
which still continued, I made my way into the thick cover in front
of his post, and about fifty yards inside it, much to my relief, came
upon him, rifle in hand, standing over the dead body of a man, over
which two people--the coolie that had been with my friend and an old
woman--were weeping, and shrieking loudly, 'Look out!' said he, as
I came up, 'the bear has just killed this fellow!' The first thing
to be done was to carry him out into the open. I helped to do this,
and directly I touched him I felt that he was stone cold, and a further
examination showed he must have been dead some hours. That he had
been killed by a bear was also very evident. He was naked to the waist,
and had been cutting grass. His bundle lay by him, and the long curved
kind of sickle that the hillmen used to cut grass with was stuck in
his girdle, showing that he had not had time to draw it to strike
one blow in his defence. The mark of the bear's paw on his left side
was quite distinct. This had felled him to the ground, and then the
savage brute had given him one bite--no more, but that one had
demolished almost the whole of the back of his head, and death must
have been instantaneous. The man had apparently cut his load of grass,
and was returning with it to the village, when he disturbed the bear,
which attacked him at once. The old woman was his mother, and the
coolie with J---- some relation. Her son having been away all day,
I suppose the old woman had gone to look for him. She found his body,
as described, just below J----'s post, and at once set up a
lamentation which brought the coolie, J----'s attendant, down to her,
and J---- following himself, thought at first that the man had been
killed then and there. There was such a row kicked up that no bear
came near the apricots that night, and the next day we had to march,
as our leave was up. I have heard of many other cases of the Black
Bear attacking without any provocation, and from what I know of the
brute I quite believe them; and, after all, the animal is not worth
shooting. Their skins are always poor and mangy, and generally so
_greasy_ that they are very difficult to keep until you can make them
over to the dresser. The skin of the Snow or Brown Bear, on the other
hand, particularly if shot early in the season, is a splendid trophy,
and forms a mo