I
Overtook Him In A Few Moments, And I Was Following Within A Foot Of His
Tail, Waiting For A
Chance for a clear shot between his shoulders, as
the thick underwood parted above his back, when he suddenly sprang
Round, and with a fierce roar, he leaped upon the muzzle of the gun. I
fired both barrels into him as he threw his whole weight against it, and
I rolled him over in a confused cloud of smoke and crackling bushes. In
a moment he was on his legs again, but going off through the thick
underwood at a pace that in my helpless state soon left me far behind.
His state must have been far from enviable, as he left portions of his
entrails all along his track. V. had killed his bear; he weighed about
two hundred pounds, and measured fourteen inches round the arm, without
his hide.
The Ceylon bear is a most savage animal, constantly attacking men
without the slightest provocation. I have seen many natives frightfully
disfigured by the attacks of bears, which they dread more than any other
animal. Nothing would induce my trackers to follow up the wounded beast.
I followed him as far as I could, but my useless limb soon gave way, and
I was obliged to give him up. I once saw a Moorman, who was a fine
powerful fellow and an excellent elephant-tracker, who had a narrow
escape from a bear. He was cutting bamboos with a catty or kind of
bill-hook, when one of these animals descended from a tree just above
him and immediately attacked him.
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