THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 47 



head was crushed, and the scalp torn off by the Mamaluke 

 cut of the claws. 



I knew another who was so severely injured in a contest 

 with one that he is to-day a cripple, and can scarcely lift a 

 hand or a foot, while one eye is completely gone. He also 

 wounded the animal, but was not able to escape from it, 

 and were it not for the timely arrival of two companions 

 he would have been killed. 



I heard of two Piute Indians who were surprised by a 

 grizzly while out picking blueberries, and were killed so 

 suddenly that they hardly knew what hurt them ; and of a 

 Blackfoot, in Montana, who was attacked on horseback by 

 one ; but he, fortunately, escaped with only a serious wound, 

 by deserting his steed. The numbers of casualties result- 

 ing from encounters with grizzly bears might be extended 

 to a volume, for many of the early pioneers of the Pacific 

 Coast, who lived by hunting or trapping, had an experience 

 of them, and not a few gave their life as a forfeit for it. 



The incidents given will, however, show that it is no an- 

 imal to play with, and that, unless one is prepared for a 

 contest of life and death, he ought to give it a wide berth, 

 should he not have a decided advantage in every way. 

 To encounter it, then, with any degree of success, one 

 needs the most approved weapons; and they should be 

 heavy enough to kill it at once, or to give its nervous 

 system such a shock as would deprive it of all power to 

 do harm. A hollow bullet fired from an Express rifle will 

 often kill it immediately, if planted in a vital part ; but it 

 is more likely to merely sicken it, or to incite it to mad 

 deeds of violence. A good bone-smasher is a heavy, solid, 

 and spherical bullet fired from an Express rifle. Shells are 

 also good ; but they are dangerous to handle, and are, in 

 too many cases, ineffective, as they explode as soon as they 

 touch the body ; and even if they enter, one cannot be sure 

 of their bursting. They are, besides, difficult to procure, 

 and are, in my estimation, almost as dangerous to the 

 hunter as to the hunted. A capital rifle for stalking the 

 grizzly would be an eight- bore, carrying twelve drachms 



