278 cook's voyage to SEPT. 



same loud and terrible noise; and though the Kamt- 

 schadales were persuaded it was mortally wounded, 

 and could get no farther, yet they thought it most 

 advisable not to rouse it again for the present. It 

 was at this time past nine o'clock, and the night be- 

 coming overcast, and threatening a change of wea- 

 ther, we thought it most prudent to return home, 

 and defer the gratification of our curiosity till morn- 

 ing, when we returned to the spot, and found the 

 bear dead in the place to which it had been watched. 

 It proved to be a female, and beyond the common 

 size. 



As the account of our first hunting-party will be 

 apt to give the reader a wrong idea of the method 

 in which this sport is usually conducted, it may not 

 be amiss to add a few more words on the subject; 

 and which I am the better able to do since this last 

 expedition. 



When the natives come to the ground frequented 

 by the bears, which they contrive to reach about 

 sun-set, the first step is to look for their tracks, to 

 examine which are the freshest, and the best situated 

 with a view to concealment, and taking aim at the 

 beast, either as he is passing by or advancing in 

 front, or going from them. These tracts are found 

 in the greatest numbers, leading from the woods 

 down to the lakes, and among the long sedgy grass 

 and brakes by the edge of the water. The place of 

 ambuscade being determined upon, the hunters next 

 fix in the ground the crutches, upon which their fire- 

 locks are made to rest, pointing them in the direction 

 they mean to make their shot. This done, they 

 kneel or lie down, as the circumstances of the cover 

 require, and, with their bear-spears by their side, 

 wait for their game. These precautions, which are 

 chiefly taken in order to make sure of their mark, 

 are, on several accounts, highly expedient. For, in 

 the first place, ammunition is so dear at Kamtschatka, 

 that the price of a bear will not purchase more of it 



14 



