198 HUNTING TRIPS 



hunters who came into contact with this 

 great bear were men belonging to that hardy 

 and adventurous class of backwoodsmen 

 which had filled the wild country between 

 the Appalachian Mountains and the Missis- 

 sippi. These men carried but one weapon: 

 the long-barrelled, small-bored pea-rifle, 

 whose bullets ran seventy to the pound, the 

 amount of powder and lead being a little 

 less than that contained in the cartridge of 

 a thirty-two calibre Winchester. In the 

 Eastern States almost all the hunting was 

 done in the woodland ; the shots were mostly 

 obtained at short distance, and deer and 

 black bear were the largest game ; moreover, 

 the pea-rifles were marvellously accurate for 

 close range, and their owners were famed 

 the world over for their skill as marksmen. 

 Thus these rifles had so far proved plenty 

 good enough for the work they had to do, 

 and indeed had done excellent service as 

 military weapons in the ferocious wars that 

 the men of the border carried on with their 

 Indian neighbors, and even in conflict with 



