AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE 



155 



Fortunately, the bear was not attending to me; I doubt, indeed, 

 if he knew what I was about. Though evidently hard hit, he 

 quickly began to scramble into the swamp behind the beach, 

 while I clung to the hair where his tail might have been if it 

 were in Bruin shape to have such. He quickly shook me off and 

 disappeared. We intended to track him down the next day; 

 but, as usual, there was an on-shore gale, and we had to tack 

 off the coast and did not find our way back. It required some 

 days and numerous applications of alcohol to clear away the 

 odor of the whale from my scalp. 



In various places I have had contacts with black bears which 

 have taught me that they are very harmless beasts, much less 

 fearsome than the half-wild pigs one is apt to encounter in the 

 woods of our Southern States, and for risk not to be compared 

 to a little goring bull or to many cows when they have had their 

 calves. The grizzlies may be dangerous, but when I have en- 

 countered them they have always seemed perfectly willing to 

 share the world with me in a friendly way. They do not scuttle 

 as the black bear does, yet they evidently prefer their own so- 

 ciety and seek to withdraw from the presence of man. Except, 

 it may be, for the so-called man-eating tigers, I am inclined to 

 think that well-disposed people might come in contact with any 

 wild beasts with no more danger than they would be exposed 

 to in their own barnyards. To those who are of a mind to ap- 

 proach bears with murder in their hearts, I may give one bit of 

 advice, based on two bits of personal experience ; it is, that it is 

 not worth while to hold on to the bear at his hinder end unless 

 you are in search of sensations. In an encounter years after that 

 just related I again tried the experiment, which continued for 

 about a quarter of a mile with much damage to my skin and 

 none to Bruin ; he positively would not face about. 



Another hunting incident of the Anticosti shore stays in my 

 mind so clearly that it troubles me as I begin to set it down. 

 Hyatt shot from the ship a female seal, of the species common 

 on our shores. The wounded creature was taken on deck and 



