274 HUNTING SPORTS OP THE WEST. 



habits, and by its mighty strength able to overcome any 

 living obstacle that comes within its reach, as an enemy. 

 The Indian warrior, of any tribe, among the haunts of 

 the Grizzly Bear, finds no necklace so honorable to be 

 worn as the claws of this gigantic animal, if he fell by 

 his own prowess ; and if he can add an eagle's plume to 

 his scalp-lock, plucked from a bird shot while on the 

 wing, he is honorable indeed. The Indian's "smoke," 

 like the fire-side of the white man, is often the place 

 where groups of people assemble to relate whatever may 

 most pleasantly while away the hours of a long evening, 

 or destroy the monotony of a dull and idle day. On 

 such occasions, the old "brave" will sometimes relax 

 from his natural gravity, and grow loquacious over his 

 chequered life. But no recital commands such undivided 

 attention as the adventures with the Grizzly Bear; and 

 the death of an enemy on the war-path hardly vies with 

 it in interest. 



We have listened to these soul-stirring adventures 

 over the urn, or while lounging on the sofa; and the 

 recital of the risks run, the hardships endured, have 

 made us think them almost impossible, when compared 

 with the conventional self-indulgence of enlightened life. 

 But they were the tales of a truthful man; a hunter, 

 who had strayed away from the scenes once necessary 

 for his life, and who loved, like the worn-out soldier, to 

 "fight his battles over," in which he was once engaged. 

 It may be, and is the province of the sportsman to 

 exaggerate; but the "hunter," surrounded by the mag- 

 nificence and sublimity of an American forest, earning 

 his bread by the hardy adventures of the chase, meets 



