IN THE FAR WEST. 25 



kind is liable to alarm it, if it is not hungry; but such means 

 of driving it away cannot be relied upon, and the only efli- 

 cacious mode of circumventing it is to avoid an encounter or 

 to give it the contents of a heavy rifle. Even with the 

 latter, one is not always sure of victory, for it is probably one 

 of the hardest animals in the world to kill. I have known 

 it to carry away several ounces of lead and then outrun its 

 pursuers; and I knew one to be hit with ten heavy bullets 

 before relinquishing its spirit. This tenacity of life is accounted 

 for by its great strength, thickness of hide, powerful and 

 strongly resistant muscles, and the form of the skull, which 

 affords good protection to the brain. 



Its strength may be inferred from the fact that it has been 

 known to kill two combative buffaloes in Montana, in about 

 as many minutes, by strokes of its huge forepaws, and subse- 

 quently to drag a heavy bull, which must have weighed at 

 least 1,200 pounds, a distance of several hundred yards, and 

 bury it in a hole which it excavated with its claws. It can 

 kill a man with one fair blow, and can crush him as it would 

 an egg-shell should he ever get locked in its embrace ; while 

 it can tear the hide off the thick-skinned buffalo with a sweep 

 of its scimitar-like claws. 



I have heard old hunters say that the most effective way 

 of killing this western monarch is to shoot it in the chest 

 when it rises on its hind legs to survey an adversary previous 

 to advancing to the assault, as one is then almost sure of 

 reaching a vital part, or at least of crippling it so much as 

 to prevent it from running rapidly. A shot in the lungs is 

 certainly sickening, if not paralyzing, and is liable to produce 

 internal hemorrhage. A person should not attack the animal 

 with impunity, however, unless he is in company with others, 

 and is well armed, for it is as fierce as the lion when aroused, 

 and is far more dangerous, as it will pursue a hunter 

 vigorously, if it can run, should he wound it, whereas the 

 other is content with a bound, and, if it misses its object, to 

 wait and crouch for another. 



The number of persons who have lost their lives through 

 their i'oolhardiness in attacking the grizzly at a disadvantage. 



