3^5 



September. 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



a mixture of all three, and horrible beyond defcription. Wc '779 

 plainly faw that it was feverely wounded, and that with dif- 

 ficulty it gained the bank, and retreated to fome thick 

 bufhes at a little diftance. It ftill continued to make the 

 fame loud and terrible noife ; and though the Kamtfchadales 

 were perfuaded it was mortally wounded, and could get no 

 farther, yet they thought it moft advifeable not to roufe it 

 again for the prefent. It was, at this time, pall nine 

 o'clock; and the night becoming overcaft, and threatening 

 a change of weather, we thought it moft prudent to return 

 home, and defer the gratification of our curioftty till morn- 

 ing, when we returned to the fpot, and found the bear dead 

 in the place to which it had been watched. It proved to be 

 a female, and beyond the common fize. 



As the account of our firft hunting party will be apt to 

 give the reader a wrong idea of the method in which this 

 iport is ufually conducted ; it may not be amifs to add a few 

 more words on the fubject; and which I am the better able 

 to do fince this lafl expedition. 



When the natives come to the ground frequented by the 

 bears, which they contrive to reach about fun-fet, the firft 

 ftep is to look for their tracks, to examine which are the 

 frehheft, and the beft fituatcd with a view to concealment, 

 and taking aim at the bead, either as he is palling by, or 

 advancing in front, or going from them. Thefe tracks are 

 found in the greateft numbers, leading from the woods 

 down to the lakes, and among the long fedgy grafs and 

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

 being determined upon, the hunters next fix in the ground 

 the crutches, upon which their firelocks are made to reft, 

 pointing them in the direction they mean to make their 



Vol. III. II r fhot, 



