No.im MAMMALS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORIES— MACFABLANE. 719 



wounded it, but to make his work sure he at once rushed out and drove 

 his knife to the hilt in the bear's heart. The skin and complete skele- 

 ton of this animal were secured and forwarded the following summer 

 to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. About three weeks 

 previous to our arrival at Franklin Bay, in the end of June, 1864, two 

 Eskimo hunters observed a brow^i bear at some distance, and being, 

 for them, well armed, the}^ went forward to meet it and did their best 

 to annov it by uttering very loud and shrill cries. They made a stoj), 

 howev^er, at a driftwood stand, shortly before constructed by them for 

 the purpose of shooting therefrom at passing ducks, geese, and swans, 

 and there prepared for action. One of them carried a Hudson Bay 

 single-barreled flintlock gun, and the other had a spear formed b}^ firml}' 

 attaching a long knife of Eskimo make to the end of a somewhat slen- 

 der pole about 6 feet in length. When the bear had closely approached 

 them, it was shot and severely wounded, which, of course, made it per- 

 fectly furious, and it came on so very quickly that there was no time 

 to reload the gun; but, just as it was about to spring at and close with 

 the man who had fired the gun at it, the other man struck fiercely at it 

 with his spear, and both soon dispatched it with their knives. This ani- 

 mal will not only hug, and if possible crush, any unfortunate falling 

 into its clutches, but will also bite with its sharp teeth and scratch 

 viciously with its powerful claws, as Indians and Eskimos have occasion- 

 ally experienced to their cost. In the spring of 1864, one of the leading 

 men of the Mackenzie River Eskimos, while hauling with a comrade 

 on the slopes of a high sea-bank, was suddenly attacked, knocked over, 

 and severely bitten by a large male, which would doul)tless have speed- 

 ily finished him had not his companion, who happened to be near by, 

 killed the bear by a quick and well-directed knife thrust. Another 

 instance of biting occurred in the Anderson Barren Grounds in the 

 month of August in the same year. An Indian on a hauling tour 

 observed an animal of this species, which he determined to shoot, re- 

 posing on the top of a knoll, but to make sure of his quarry he crawled 

 quite close to it, and on pulling the trigger of his gun it unfortunately 

 snapped; but the sound awoke the bear, and before the Indian could 

 draw his knife he was thrown down, and the bear at once began to 

 ))ite him in the shoulders, arms, and legs; but for some unknown 

 reason it soon desisted and disappeared, leaving the poor fellow in a 

 badly nmtilated and helpless condition. Luckily for him, his friends 

 missed him and a search was made which resulted in his discovery; he 

 was then taken on to his own lodge, not far away, where he was care- 

 fully attended to, but, some three or four months elapsed before he 

 recovered sufficiently to be able to hunt again, and he will no doubt 

 carry the scars of the wounds of his very narrow escape from death, 

 to his grave. The wonder is that he was not killed outright. 



