BEAKS. 45 



returned home, his clothes torn in the struggle, and 

 very much exhausted by the encounter; he dropped into 

 a chair, and nearly fainted; but a little brandy revived 

 him, though he was ill some days from the pressure. 



A young English officer, who was stationed at a 

 lone fortress in the same country, amused himself by 

 taming a bear of the above species. He taught him 

 to fetch and carry, to follow him like a dog, and to wait 

 patiently at meal time for his share. He took the bear 

 with him when he returned to England, and he became 

 a great favourite with the passengers and the ship's 

 company. Bruin, however, especially attached himself 

 to a little girl about four years old, the daughter of 

 one of the ladies on board, who romped with him as 

 she would with a dog. In one of these games of play, 

 he seized her with one fore-paw, and with the other 

 clambered and clung to the rigging, till he lodged her 

 and himself in the main-top, where, regardless of her 

 cries and the agony of her mother, he tried to continue 

 his romp. It would not do to pursue the pair, for fear 

 the bear should drop the child ; and his master, knowing 

 how fond he was of sugar, had some mattresses placed 

 round the mast in case the child should fall, and then 

 strewed a quantity of sugar on the deck; h called 

 Bruin, and pointed to it, who, after a moment's hesi- 

 tation, came down as he went up, bringing the child 

 in safety. He was, of course, deprived of his liberty 

 during the rest of his voyage. 



This same black bear of Canada, after it has hugged 

 its antagonists to death, tears them open with its hind- 

 feet. It will ward off blows like an accomplished boxer; 

 for as it would be of no use to strike him on his thickly- 

 covered body, the attacks are usually made about the 



