BEAR HUNTING. 285 



Now, I believe, they are becoming scarce, and are rarely or 

 never hunted, though of course they are dealt with summarily, 

 if encountered while in pursuit of humbler game. The same 

 may be said of the Wolf, the Wild-Cat, and the Cougar, or 

 Panther ; all of which are occasionally hunted with hounds, and 

 none of which ever receive grace or law, if encountei'ed in the 

 woods or on the prairie, but which are not in anj sort to be 

 regarded as game, and which are never, I might almost say, 

 hunted in form and of malice prepense. 



Not so the Grizzly Bear — Ursus Horrihilis — which is to 

 America, what the Lion is to Southern Africa, and the Tiger to 

 Bengal, the fiercest and most terrible of all its quadrupeds ; and 

 probably in fierceness, cruelty, and wanton thirst of blood, more 

 to be dreaded than either of the Royal Cats, which despite all 

 that has been said of them, are but sneaking varmints after al', 

 which would rather run than fight any day, unless, when very 

 sorely pressed by famine, or pinned in a corner. The Grizzly 

 Bear, however, has not the least idea of running, unless it be at 

 you ; in which direction he persists with so much tenacity that it 

 is not very easy to say what will stop him — being hilt, as an Irish- 

 man understands the word, has no effect on him whatever, as is 

 proved by the fact recorded by those adventurous and veracious 

 travellers. Captains Lewis and Clarke, the first explorers of the 

 haunts of this pleasing gentleman, who state that one individual 

 of this race, which measured above eight feet in length and five 

 in girth, swam half a mile, and lived half an hour, or thereabout, 

 after being shot five times through the lungs, and receiving five 

 other wounds, any of which, in ordinary animals, would be 

 deemed mortal. 



The Grizzly Bear has been known to fight desperately after 

 being shot through the cavity of the heart ; and the only cer- 

 tain death-wound that can be inflicted on him is by a bullet 

 through the brain, which, from the peculiar form of the scull, 

 the shape of the muscles which protect it, and the extreme 

 hardness of the bone, it is almost impossible to send to this 

 mark. In like manner, the thickness of his hide and the shag- 



