100 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



at his feet. On examining his own wounds, he found that 

 the left arm was severely injured, and that the flesh was 

 torn rather severely on parts of the arms and thighs. As 

 they were all flesh wounds, however, he congratulated him- 

 self on his escape; yet they were severe enough to lay him 

 up for two months, and to make him go to the settlements 

 for surgical aid and attendance. 



A man whom I met in Montana was made a cripple for 

 life by a bear because he shot one of her cubs. He was 

 taking the young one away, when the mother overtook him 

 and attacked him without a moment's hesitation. The 

 struggle was a severe one; but the hunter finally caught 

 her by the throat, and pressing on that part with all his 

 might, soon reduced her to such a condition of weakness 

 that he was enabled to take out a large pocket-knife which 

 he carried, and to cut her jugular vein. When the con- 

 test was over, he was so exhausted from his wounds and 

 the loss of blood that he fainted, and it was only by mak- 

 ing the most strenuous efforts that he was able to get 

 home. An examination proved that the animal had cut 

 some of the tendons of the right foot and broken some of 

 the ankle-bones, besides lacerating the arms and chest. 



Another individual of whom I heard in Colorado follow- 

 ed a wounded bear into the undergrowth, and was attack- 

 ed by it. His rifle being unloaded, he was unable to use 

 any other means of defence than a knife; but before he 

 could inflict any damage with that he was overpowered, 

 and injured so severely that he died in two days after be- 

 ing brought home. When found by one of his neighbors 

 he was apparently dead, nor did he ever recover conscious- 

 ness, for the skull was injured in two places as if it had 

 been struck with a hammer. 



Accidents less serious than these frequently occur, but 

 they are too often due to want of caution, and to suppos- 

 ing an animal killed when it is only wounded seriously 

 enough to make it desperate. 



The only instance in which I was chased by a black bear 

 occurred in Washington Territory, and that taught me a 



