302 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



Indians, some three hundred miles up the Yellow- 

 Stone river, where he arrived in a miserable 

 plight, having suffered from hunger and expo- 

 sure. He escaped the men who were first sent 

 after him, by keeping in ravines and hiding 

 closely ; but others were despatched, who finally 

 caught him. He said that one day he saw a 

 dead buffalo lying near the river bank, and 

 going towards it to get some of the meat, to his 

 utter astonishment and horror a young grizzly 

 bear which was feeding on the carcass, raised up 

 from behind it and so suddenly attacked him 

 that his face and hands were lacerated by its 

 claws before he had time to think of defending 

 himself. Not daunted, however, he gave the 

 cub a tremendous jerk, which threw it down, 

 and took to his heels, leaving the young savage 

 in possession of the prize. 



The audacity of these bears in approaching 

 the neighbourhood of Fort Union at times was 

 remarkable. The waiter, '' Jean Battiste," who 

 had been in the employ of the company for up- 

 wards of twenty years, told us that while one 

 day picking peas in the garden, as he advanced 

 towards the end of one of the rows, he saw a 

 large grizzly bear gathering that excellent veget- 

 able also. At this unexpected and startling dis- 

 covery, he dropped his bucket, peas and all, and 

 fled at his fastest pace to the Fort, Immediately 



