102 CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT'S 



Rain and snow till nine this morning, fair after- 

 wards. 



Sunday, March 29, 1772. I went npon my sled 

 romid the low grounds, [at St. Peter's Bay] and 

 saw the tracks of two large white-bears; but was 

 near losing my life by a frolic. For, laying the 

 hounds on the track of one of the bears, I encour- 

 aged them to hunt it, which they soon did, and ran 

 by the eye and cried it merrily. Growing more 

 eager every yard, they presently ran away with 

 me, and we soon came upon the ice in Harbour 

 Pleasure; nor could I stop them till they had got 

 near to the mouth of the harbour, w^here the ice 

 was so weak (being a fresh freezing of only a few 

 days) that they absolutely broke through with a 

 foot or two, and it bent very much with the weight 

 of me on the sled. With some difficulty I turned 

 them about, and got safe back. [On April 7 he 

 returned to Charles River.] 



Friday, April 10, 1772. At sun-rise I went 

 down the river, and found all the slips in Slip Cove 

 down and covered with snow, and the large trap 

 likewise covered very high. I observed that the 

 [white] bear had gone upon Salt Point, where I 

 soon discovered the mischief done by this animal 

 on an oil-hogshead; which had been spoiled last 

 winter by a wolf: I stood for some time viewing 

 the damage with astonishment. The cask was 

 made of strong oak staves, well secured by thick, 

 broad hoops of birch; yet this creature with one 

 stroke of his tremendous paw, had snapped off the 

 four chime-hoops, and broken the staves short off. 



