THE GRIZZLY BEAE. 215 



am rather inclined to support the opinion of my 

 dear friend Alexandre Dumas on the subject of bear 

 beefsteaks. In the States they sell bear haunches 

 just as in Paris they sell haunches of the roebuck. 

 It is not a tender meat, and the flavour reminds you 

 of a mixture of beef and pork, ^Yith a coarseness of 

 texture. 



Here is an anecdote of which I myself am one 

 of the principal heroes. The scene is upon a slope 

 of the Alleghanies. I was returning, accompanied 

 by two friends, from a sporting expedition after 

 ducks, teal, and such like. The snow covered the 

 bank to which we had made fast our boat. A forest 

 was before us, and our guide pointed out at the foot 

 of a tree a heap of leaves, moss, and dead branches, 

 with an opening through the midst. He declared 

 that it was the lair of a grizzly bear. 



With the help of an axe which he carried at his 

 belt, our guide cut down a young tree and sharpened 

 the end of it. He thrust this into the opening, and 

 had scarcely done so before the bear rushed out. 

 Our guide received him with such a cut across the 

 head that he gave a roar and speedily retreated into 

 his lair. The spear was once more poked in, but 

 there was no sign. I proposed sending a bullet in 

 to see what would be the result, and fired into the 

 opening. A few seconds afterwards out came a cub 

 bear, no longer than a fox. It rushed forth and 

 jumped into the lake. There we soon shot it and 



