150 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



master a bison, and drag him to his retreat. He is by far 

 the most dangerous brute of North America. He unhesi- 

 tatingly pursues both men and animals ; but, though he feeds 

 on flesh, he is capable of subsisting upon roots and fruits. 

 He is very tenacious of life, and will pursue his enemy after 

 having received repeated mortal wounds. He is found in 

 the eastern vicinity of the Rocky Mountains. Though the 

 Grizzly will sometimes move off on the approach of the 

 traveller, without showing fight, he will at other times attack 

 him with great ferocity. A man named Nathan Rogers who 

 lived on a ranch in the mountains about a mile above 

 West Point, near the North Fork of the Mokelumne, once 

 had a terrific encounter with a grizzly bear. He was out 

 shooting small game when he was suddenly confronted by 

 an enormous animal. He fired his only shot intp the breast 

 of the bear and then awaited his attack. The fight was 

 fast and furious, and though in the end the grizzly was killed, 

 the man only survived in a terrible condition. Conscious 

 that he must soon have help or perish, he summoned all 

 his resolution and staggered along, and managed to reach 

 a spring in sight of a house, when his endurance gave way, 

 and he fell in a dead faint by the water's edge. Fortunately 

 he was soon discovered by his son, a lad of some twelve 

 years, who immediately gave the alarm. In addition to his 

 horrible wounds, the shock to his system was a terrible 

 one. His left arm, literally mangled and torn to shreds, 

 had to be amputated at the shoulder. His left clavicle and 

 scapula were fractured, and the three lower ribs on the right 

 side broken. The flesh and muscles on his back were so 

 broken and abraded that the vertebrae were actually visible 

 in places; while, his lower limbs were literally seamed and 

 furrowed by the crooked claws of the bear's hind feet. The 

 left side of the bear was literally torn to pieces, there being 

 no less than twenty-two knife-wounds, nearly every one of 

 which reached to a vital point. Some idea of his size 



