SHOOT MORE BEARS. 343 



hundred grains of powder, the accuracy being quite as good as 

 with the proper bullet, which was a long conical one. 



We remained in this camp another fortnight, getting three 

 more bears, of which I shot two, and one of them was nearly 

 as large as the one I have spoken of, the weight of which we 

 calculated to be about eleven hundred pounds. The second 

 large one I got when out on foot. I saw him enter some 

 bushes, and having grown bold from seeing how many stones 

 it took to dislodge the other, I walked very confidently to 

 within four yards of the bushes and then threw in a large 

 piece of rock. I suppose it must have gone very near the bear, 

 if it did not actually hit him, for out he came at once ; I had 

 no time to raise the rifle, so I fired from the hip, both barrels 

 at once, and then having business at the top of the hill which 

 would admit of no delay, I made " capital time " for about a 

 hundred yards, turning when near the top, and when my rifle 

 was loaded, to find that the bear had not stirred, but was lying 

 where I had fired at him, and yet I could have declared that he 

 was smelling at the calves of my legs all the way up the hill. 

 Both bullets had taken him in the top of the head, and he had 

 died almost immediately. 



A few days after this we left this camp for Martinsdale, going 

 out of the mountains by a new way, and had very hard work 

 to get the waggon across the numerous watercourses we met 

 with, as our team was a weak one. The day we left we saw a 

 grizzly bear feeding on the ridge on our right, so having halted 

 the waggon, the Colonel and I tied up our horses and climbed 

 the ridge, and on looking over the top we saw the bear feeding 

 not more than fifty yards from us, with his head down in the 

 long grass rooting. We fired together and he rolled over, 



