56 The Black Bear. 



often met with at the present day. The farms on which they live 

 are clearings in the primeval forests. During a visit to this district, I 

 had the luck, unexpectedly, to see Bruin at home in one of his wild- 

 est retreats. North of the settlement a range of rocky hills rises 

 perpendicularly from the shores of a forest lake. The hills are strewn 

 with gigantic bowlders, over which the hunter must pick his way 

 with no little difficulty and danger. But by that expert climber, the 

 black bear, such rugged ground is easily traversed. Our tramp had 

 been a long one, and on our return my Indian guide proposed that 

 we should cross the Red Rock hills, and thus save much time. 

 Great black clouds threatened an autumn storm. After much hard 

 climbing, we reached a place where the whole hill-side seemed riven 

 apart. On every side we were surrounded by precipices and deep 

 gulches, partly filled with great bowlders and sharp fragments of 

 rocks. Although the dangers were not of Alpine magnitude, they 

 might just as well have been, inasmuch as they were greater than we 

 had any means of overcoming. In attempting to find a way out, we 

 clambered along a ledge of rocks that afforded only insecure footing, 

 and gradually diminished in width until all farther progress in that 

 direction became impracticable. Retracing our steps, almost in 

 despair of finding an outlet, we came to a fissure in the cliff just wide 

 enough to admit one at a time. For a distance of twenty feet we 

 were able to walk in an upright position ; then the passage narrowed 

 rapidly, and we had to crawl upon our hands and knees in almost 

 perfect darkness. Presently we came to a place where the opening 

 was so low that, if one attempted to straighten up, his back came in 

 contact with a solid wall of rock ; thence the passage took a sharp 

 downward pitch, at the bottom of which we found a space sufficiently 

 large to permit us to regain an upright position. The darkness was 

 now complete, and, not daring to move for fear of getting a fall, I 

 thought it prudent to return to the ledge, and imparted my intention 

 to the guide. I received no reply, and called out in a louder voice. 

 To my surprise, the answer came in a muffled tone from a locality 

 apparently directly under me. By this time my eyes had become 

 accustomed to the gloom, and I detected a bluish, glimmering 

 light on the rocky wall overhead, proceeding from a distant cor- 

 ner of the space in which I stood. Creeping to the source 

 of the light, I found a wedge-like opening, decreasing in 



