distance was not great, and I could easily have put a bullet into one of them if boughs and tree-trunks had not impeded my aim. I therefore quitted my position, and climbed down a little way to get a free field of fire, but the huntsman had in the meantime reached the edge of the ravine and killed one of the bears with his first shot; the other would certainly not have escaped him if he had had a double-barrelled rifle. The great excitement now commenced, as the she-bear, which had already been fired on by the beaters higher up, was expected to arrive, but no one could say whether she had been wounded, or whether her cubs had preceded her. The circle of beaters and hunters now drew closer in, the _matador_ of the hunters placed himself close by my side, and drew my attention to the danger of an attack by so savage an animal. We waited half an hour for the decisive moment; unfortunately the she-bear did not turn up, and the hunters declared it probable that she had been wounded and had hidden herself in some rocky crevice, as otherwise we should certainly have had a shot at her. "On the way home we witnessed another interesting scene. At least thirty large golden eagles had assembled round a carcase on the far side of a ravine, but the distance was far beyond our range. I fired at one which was hovering over my head, but only hit one of his feathers, which fluttered to the ground. The shot frightened the interesting inhabitants of the mountains from their meal, and they flew in all directions between the rocky spurs, where we were able to follow them with the naked eye for a long time." The same letter also contained a most interesting picture of the situation of Roumania, both at home and abroad.