A Bear Hunt in the Adirondacks. 231 



for it was determined to pursue the animal to extremity. 

 It was about three miles to where we would strike the 

 trail and our. course was down the Sacondaga on the ice, 

 up the Cuudjemonk to the base of Rift hill, which we then 

 commenced to ascend. This mountain is so covered with 

 cliffs, huge blocks of stone and boulders, windslashes of 

 fallen trees and the like, as to slightly remind one of the 

 Indian Pass ; it was a fit retreat for the chased bear : here 

 he would throw off the dog by climbing the boulders and 

 walking logs across chasms. Here the crevices in the rocks 

 afforded comfortable retreats for great numbers of porcu- 

 pines, the snow was every where tracked up by them, trees 

 barked and little paths beaten through the snow. I 

 noticed that the track of a porcupine exactly resembled 

 that of a small bear ; having the plantigrade appearance. 



At the foot of the Rift hill I separated from my com- 

 panion, and, climbing the mountain, went at his request, 

 over to a spot on the Burnt mountain, where he thought 

 the bear would come when chased. It was about a mile 

 from the summit of Rift hill to this place, and, if neither 

 the bear nor Sturgis came to me, I was to judge that the 

 bear had left the mountain, and act accordingly. 



On my way over to Burnt mountain, I crossed the sum- 

 mit of Rift hill, through a recently deserted deer yard 

 that was there. I discovered by the signs, that the bear 

 and Sturgis had passed through the previous evening and 

 scattered them and, while examining the Rift, the cleft 

 summit of the mountain — a geological phenomenon unac- 

 countable to me — I noticed that near the deer yard the 

 bear had been four times. Through the Rift, along its 

 edge, across and around it; seemingly through necessity 

 from the conformation of the ground. This appeared 

 to me by far the best place to await the bear, but, ac- 

 cording to agreement, I proceeded to the summit of Burnt 



