io8 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap, vi 



and the good little Mannlicher had inflicted the most 

 frightful wounds in both places, as we afterwards found on 

 skinning the body. 



Of course I thought at once that we had secured a 

 record, as this was by far the largest bear I had ever seen, 

 alive or dead, but to make sure I said to Nicolai, " Have you 

 ever seen a larger bear than this one ? " After a short 

 inspection he replied, much to my disgust, " He big bear all 

 right, me see bigger bear killed Kodiak Island." Nothing 

 remained to be done except to send back word to Little, 

 who arrived in our camp that morning, reporting our luck 

 and calling for his assistance to help skin and pack the hide 

 back to camp. Whilst skinning the beast, we noticed that 

 he had recently been fighting and had got badly mauled by 

 another bear, as the scratches and fresh blood on his face 

 and feet clearly showed. I remarked to Little that if there 

 was another bear round that neighbourhood large enough 

 to give this one a thrashing, I should like to meet him. 

 Unfortunately we had no tape with us at the time to take 

 the exact measurements of this beast, as Glyn had our only 

 tape away with him, and although I took several measure- 

 ments with string at the time, none of these can be accepted 

 as accurate. This beast was, however, only a few inches 

 smaller in every measurement than my largest bear, which 

 we measured carefully with the tape soon afterwards. The 

 actual skinning did not occupy much time, as Little and 

 Nicolai were both adepts at the task. The biggest part of 

 the undertaking was packing the skin and skull back to 

 camp. It was a job that fell to the lot of Nicolai, and 

 although only provided with some strong cord which must 

 have cut his shoulders badly, he proceeded to make a pack 

 of the skin and started off with it to camp. 



