196 CAPTAIN CART WRIGHT'S 



hunters returned and brought a marten which 

 they had shot as it was feeding upon their provi- 

 sions. 



Friday, April 12, 1776. In the afternoon I per- 

 ceived a bitch white-bear, and a cub of last year 

 coming down the harbour on the ice; we all got 

 our guns and waited until they came within half 

 a mile of the house, when they winded it and 

 turned off for Earl Island : I then slipped the 

 greyhound and we all gave chase. As soon as the 

 dog got near them, the old bear turned about and 

 attacked him with the greatest fury; she made 

 several strokes at him with her fore-paws, but by 

 his agility he avoided the blows. He then quitted 

 the bitch and pursued the cub, which he caught 

 near the island and pulled it down, but was obliged 

 to desist on the approach of the enraged dam. As 

 he would not fasten on her behind, both of them 

 gained the island at the time we got up within 

 fifty yards of them, when two of the people fired, 

 and I snapped my rifle several times, but without 

 effect, as the main-spring I afterwards found was 

 broke. Two of the people followed them for some 

 distance into the woods, but, as they had not their 

 rackets and the snow was very rotten, they could 

 not overtake them. 



Thursday, April 18, 1776. I sowed some mus- 

 tard, cresses, and onions in a tub, and hung it up 

 in the kitchen. 



It rained all day, but cleared in the evening. 



Friday, April 19, 1776. Jack and I went round 

 our traps; he shot a grouse on the hill, where we 



