THE BLACK BEAR OF MUSKOKA 81 



and Bachman quote another case which appeared 

 in an American paper : 



"A young man, whilst at work in a field, 

 accompanied by a small boy, was attacked by a 

 bear which suddenly appeared on the edge of the 

 forest, and quite unexpectedly fell upon him with 

 fury. Almost at the first onset the brute over- 

 threw the farmer, who fell to the ground on his 

 back, with the bear clutching him, and biting his 

 arm severely. He was unarmed with the excep- 

 tion of a knife, which he could not get out of 

 his pocket owing to the position in which he 

 had fallen. Perceiving that his chance of escape 

 was desperate, he rammed his hand and arm so 

 far down the bear's throat as to produce the effect 

 of partial strangulation, and whilst the bear became 

 faint from loss of breath he got possession of his 

 knife and cut the brute's throat, and with the 

 exception of a few severe bites, and some lacera- 

 tions from the claws of the animal, was not very 

 much injured." 



I have met bears on a narrow path at close 

 quarters, and always found them in a greater 

 hurry to get away from me than I was from 

 them. On one occasion I was scrambling over 

 some rough country, and had just rounded a large 



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