NATURAL HISTORY 



53: 



BROWN BEAR. 



(From the same.J 



Towards evening the men in 

 the hindmost canoes discovered a 

 hirge brown bear lying in the 

 open ground.^j about three hun- 

 dred paces from the river: six of 

 them, all good hunters, imme- 

 diately went to attack him, and 

 concealing themselves by a small 

 eminence came unperceived with- 

 in forty paces of him : four of 

 the hmiters now fired, and each 

 lodged a ball in liis body, two of 

 them directly through the lungs : 

 the furious animal sjjrang up and 

 ran openmoutlied upon them ; as 

 he came near, the two hunters 

 who had reserved their fire gave 

 him two wounds, one of whicli 

 breaking his slK)ulder, retarded 

 his motion for a moment 3 but 

 before they could .reload he was 

 so near that they were obliged 

 to run to the river, and before 

 they reached it he liad almost 

 overtaken them : two jumped into 

 the canoe ; the other four sepa- 

 rated, and concealing themselves 

 in the willows, fired as fast as 

 each could reload : they struclc 

 him several times, but instead of 

 weakening the monster each shot 

 seemed only to direct him towards 

 the hunger, till at last he pursued 

 two of tlicm so closely, tliat they 

 threw aside their guns and pouches , 

 ami jumped down a perpendicular 

 bank of twenty feet into the river ; 

 the bear sprang after them, and 

 was witiiin a few feet of t!ie liind- 

 most, when one of the hunters 

 (/»i shore shot him in the head 

 and finally killed Idm : thcvdrng- 

 ged him to the shore, and fotmd 



that eight balls had passed through 

 him in different directions. 



liUFFALOK HUNTING. 



(From the same.J 



On the north we passed a pre- 

 cipice about one hundred and 

 twenty feet high, under which 

 lay scattered the fi-agments of at 

 least one hundred carcasses of 

 buifaloes, although tlie water 

 wliich had washed away the lower 

 part of the hill must have carried 

 oft" many of the dead. These buf- 

 faloes had been cliased dov/n the 

 precipice in a way very common 

 on the ^Missouri, and by whicli 

 vast herds arc destroyed in a mo- 

 ment. The mode of hunting is 

 to select one of the most active 

 and fleet young men, who is dis- 

 guised by a buffaloe skin romid 

 his body : the skin of the head 

 Avith the ears and horns fastened 

 on his own head in such a way as 

 to deceive the buffaloe : thus 

 dressed, he fixes himself at a con- 

 venient distance between a herd 

 of buffaloes and any of the river 

 pi"ecij)ices, which sometimes ex- 

 tend for several miles. His com- 

 panions in the meantime get in 

 the rear and side of the herd, and 

 at a given signal show them-^elves, 

 and advance towaids the buffaloes : 

 they instantly take the alarm, and 

 finding the hunters beside them, 

 they run towards the disguised 

 Indian or decoy, who leads them 

 on at full speed towards the river, 

 wlien suddenly securing himself 

 in some crevice of the cliff which 

 he had previously fixed on, the 

 lierd is Iei"t on tlie brink of tlie 



precipice : 



