KENCOUNTEK WITH A BEAE. 225 



EENCOUNTEE WITH A BEAE. 



IN America a bear-story and a snake-story are 

 synonymous, to the generality of listeners, to cram- 

 mers. Knowing such to be the case a man can not 

 help approaching this subject without nervous feel- 

 ings, particularly when a bear figures as one of the 

 principals among the dramatis personce of the narra- 

 tive. But it matters not, travelers appear to be born 

 to be doubted. I do not hesitate to say that they 

 will sometimes romance, but invariably the fiction 

 portion is credited and the reality ignored. We do 

 not need to look at the experience of modern times, 

 our forefathers were impregnated with the same 

 spirit ; vide the reception poor Bruce received after 

 his incredible hardships in Nubia and Abyssinia. 



A friend, in the true sense of the word, and myself 

 went to visit a small lake that was reported to swarm 

 with trout, almost believing that no such place ex- 

 isted, but as a tramp through the woods was never 



objectionable we determined to make an effort to 

 10* 



