78 SPOX TIXG A 1) I 7:\V TURKS 



acquaintance, who fanned in summer and hunted in winter, 

 to go on a "bearing 1 " expedition, he kindly assented to my 

 proposal, and made preparations lor it by cooking plenty of 

 food, and securing two mustangs, or cat/uses as they are called 

 in the North-west, to transport our blankets and provisions 

 out and our game back, as we intended to be absent two or 

 three days. Our armament consisted of a muzzle-loading rifle 

 which I carried, and a shot-gun borne by my comrade; our 

 food was confined to boiled mutton and home-made bread ; 

 and our companions to two small, active, and noisy curs, 

 which thought it necessary to bark at every bird and animal 

 they saw. Having started at six a.m., we found ourselves 

 about twelve miles from home by mid-day, and deeply im- 

 merged in a dense forest of those gigantic firs and spruces 

 indigenous to the North-west. After resting for a few minutes 

 to load our guns, and to eat a simple repast, which was washed 

 down with water, we went searching for bear "signs," and soon 

 found them plentiful enough, for the berries were cleaned off 

 quite a large patch of bushes, old logs had been stripped of 

 their bark where they concealed grubs and ants, and some of the 

 young trees contained marks of a large male's teeth, which 

 was advertising his presence and portliness by placing his 

 sign manual as high upon them as he could reach. It is a 

 peculiarity of the male that he will sometimes leave the impres- 

 sions of his teeth as high up on some of the undergrowth as he 

 can reach, as if he were desirous of making his dimensions 

 known to other members of his family. AVhat this signifies no 

 one seems to know, though the surmises are many. Having 

 noted these, the dogs, which had been previously kept at heel, 

 were set to work to arouse the advertiser, and in less than ten 

 minutes they were yelping in their loudest tone. I ran in 

 one direction on hearing this notification, and my companion 

 in the opposite, so that we might head off the game should 

 it break from a straight course. After running for a few 

 minutes I saw a dark object dodging through the thick 

 shrubbery, and judging from its size that it was the animal 

 whose lii'e I sought, I raised my rifle, pointed it as steadily 

 as my palpitation would permit, and banged away. When 



