Old Ephraim 339 



weighed about twelve hundred pounds, and though 

 this is not as large as some of his kind are said to 

 grow in California, it is yet a very unusual size for 

 a bear. He was a good deal heavier than any of 

 our horses; and it was with the greatest difficulty 

 that we were able to skin him. He must have been 

 very old, his teeth and claws being all worn down 

 and blunted; but nevertheless he had been living in 

 plenty, for he was as fat as a prize hog, the layers 

 on his back being a finger's length in thickness. He 

 was still in the summer coat, his hair being short, 

 and in color a curious brindled brown, somewhat 

 like that of certain bull-dogs ; while all the bears we 

 shot afterward had the long thick winter fur, cinna- 

 mon or yellowish brown. By the way, the name of 

 this bear has reference to its character and not to 

 its color, and should, I suppose, be properly spelt 

 grisly in the sense of horrible, exactly as we speak 

 of a "grisly spectre" and not grizzly; but perhaps 

 the latter way of spelling it is too well established 

 to be now changed. 



In killing dangerous game steadiness is more 

 needed than good shooting. No game is dangerous 

 unless a man is close up, for nowadays hardly any 

 wild beast will charge from a distance of a hundred 

 yards, but will rather try to run off ; and if a man is 

 close it is easy enough for him to shoot straight if 

 he does not lose his head. A bear's brain is about 

 the size of a pint bottle ; and any one can hit a pint 

 bottle offhand at thirty or forty feet. I have had 

 two shots at bears at close quarters, and each time I 



