TRAPPING A BEAR. 93 



Ilie bear of course could not get at the meat without 

 first stepping over the trap, and as bad luck would 

 have it, he stepped in. The trap was not fastened in 

 its place, but attached by a chain to a long stick 

 — the old fellow therefore traveled off till the closr 

 caught against a tree. I would not have supposed it 

 possible that a bear could make such rending work 

 with his teeth as he did. For six feet upward from 

 the root, the tree against which he was caught, was 

 not only peeled of its bark, but the hard fibres were 

 torn away in large splinters, while the clog itself 

 was all chewed up, and the ground around furrowed, 

 in his struggles and rage. 



Beavers were once found in abundance here, and 

 Cheney says he knows where there is a colony of 

 them now. Otter and sable are now and then taken, 

 but trappers are fast exterminating the fur tribe. 

 Yet for game and fish ther ; is no region like it on the 

 continent. 



Yours truly, 



