182 HUNTING* SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



Indian, who had bravely attacked the bear single 

 handed, and had fallen in the struggle, the skeleton of 

 the bear proving that he had sold his life dearly. 



The skeleton was perfect, except some of the small 

 bones which rats or snakes might have carried off. 

 The Indian pointed in silence to the upper bone of the 

 right arm, which was broken, and the knife was lying 

 on the left side. 



The sight of these remains of a human being, which 

 may have lain there for years, while his footsteps were 

 Btill so fresh in the moist earth, was deeply affecting. 

 As I was about to pass on, the Indian laid his hand on 

 my arm, and shook his head, saying, in broken English, 

 " The spirit of the red man is in the cave, and Wachiga 

 goes no further." Nothing could induce him to go on, 

 all my persuasions were fruitless ; pointing to the bones, 

 he said, " The bones of the red man belonged to a great 

 chief; the bear seeks no bed where the hunter sleeps." 

 As this last remark seems well founded, and as the sight 

 had shaken me too much for me to go alone, we turned 

 back without touching the remains. 



We found Erskine alone, and told him what we had 

 seen, but he did not seem at all inclined to visit the re- 

 mains. We found three other caves, but no bear : Ers 

 kine and the Indians tried the two first, Erskine and I 

 the last. The cave separated into two passages ; Ers- 

 kine took the right, I the left, and as I proceeded I 

 found plenty of marks. The cave was so small that I 

 was obliged to leave everything but a torch and my 

 knife ; I could not even turn myself from one side to 

 the other, to change my attitude. I had taken off my 



