44 SPOUTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



away cannot be relied upon, and the only efficacious mode 

 of circumventing it is to avoid an encounter, or to give 

 it the contents of a heavy rifle. Even with the lat- 

 ter, one is not always sure of victory, for it is probably 

 one of the hardest animals in the world to kill. I have 

 known it to carry away several ounces of lead and then 

 outrun its pursuers; and I knew one to be hit with ten 

 heavy bullets before relinquishing its spirit. This tenac- 

 ity of life is accounted for by its great strength, thick- 

 ness of hide, powerful and strongly resistant muscles, and 

 the form of the skull, which affords good protection to 

 the brain. 



Its strength may be inferred from the fact that it has 

 been known to kill two combative buffaloes in Montana, in 

 about as many minutes, by strokes of its huge forepaws, 

 and subsequently to drag a heavy bull, which must have 

 weighed at least twelve hundred pounds, a distance of 

 several hundred yards, and bury it in a hole which it ex- 

 cavated with its claws. It can kill a man with one fair 

 blow, and can crush him as it would an egg-shell, should 

 he ever get locked in its embrace; while it can tear the 

 hide off the thick-skinned buffalo with a sweep of its cim- 

 eter-like claws. 



I have heard old hunters say that the most effective way 

 of killing this Western monarch is to shoot it in the chest 

 when it rises on its hind-legs to survey an adversary previ- 

 ous to advancing to the assault, as one is then almost sure 

 of reaching a vital part, or at least of crippling it so much 

 as to prevent it from running rapidly. A shot in the lungs 

 is certainly sickening, if not paralyzing, and is liable to pro- 

 duce internal hemorrhage. A person should not attack 

 the animal with impunity, however, unless he is in company 

 with others, and is well armed, for it is as fierce as the lion 

 when aroused, and is far more dangerous ; as it will pur- 

 sue a hunter vigorously, if it can run, should he wound it, 

 whereas the other is content with a bound, and, if it misses 

 its object, to wait and crouch for anothei*. 



The number of persons who have lost their lives through 



