A Bear Sunt in the Adirondacks. 237 



thick and elastic that they closed in after the bullet; even 

 a small pencil could not have been pressed into the wounds. 

 The sixth and last bullet entered the skull a little below 

 the right ear, penetrating the brain, and shattering the 

 posterior portion of the cranium. This bullet was mashed 

 and broken in three pieces, lodging in different parts of 

 the brain ; two of the fragments have been recovered and 

 are retained as mementoes. That he lived and offered 

 resistance after this wound is worthy of the attention of 

 naturalists, and bids the grizzly, the far famed Ursusferox, 

 look to his laurels. With this wound (besides the five 

 bullets already received) brains and blood streaming out 

 on the snow, he ran three rods — fell, yet was still fiercely 

 ready for conflict. 



I will not relate in detail what followed ; how we dragged 

 the bear out to the settlement on his glossy back ; how 

 long it took, how wearied we were, how night was upon 

 us when we reached the road. How we laughed as we 

 thought of the surprise of croakers — not only at our return, 

 but at our success— of the guides and hunters who had 

 the previous day joked us on our " wild goose chase." 

 At length we neared the hotel, but before we reached it 

 the settlement had taken the alarm and was around us. 

 We had our triumph. " It was a great feat; the first bear 

 hunted down and killed in this manner, on snow-shoe3 in 

 that region ; " said those hardy northern hunters. 



The bear weighed over three hundred pounds before 

 being disemboweled, and had bled so very profusely that 

 he must have lost gallons of blood. He measured seven 

 feet from hind claws to tip of nose; around the neck 

 three feet; around the chest, inside the arms, four feet 

 ten inches ; diameter of chest, from outside of shoulders, 

 two feet. Length of hind foot ten inches ; length of palm 

 of fore paw eight inches ; length of head one foot. 



