A Bear Fiiht 



cb' 



195 



were suddenly apprised of the proximity of some of these 

 animals, by their snuffing the air. No sooner was this 

 perceived than, to the astonishment of the party, not 

 fewer than eight bears, I was told, made their appear 

 ance. Each man being provided with his short-handled 

 axe, faced about and willingly came to the scratch ; but 

 the assailed soon j^roved the assailants, and with claw 

 and tooth drove off the men in a twinkling. Down they 

 all rushed from the mountain ; the noise spread quickly ; 

 rifles were soon procured and shouldered ; but when the 

 spot was reached, no bears were to be found ; night 

 forced the hunters back to their homes, and a laugh con- 

 cluded the affair. 



" I spent six weeks in the Great Pine Forest — swamp 

 it cannot be called — where I made many a drawing. 

 Wishing to leave Pennsylvania, and to follow the migra- 

 tory flocks of our birds to the south, I bade adieu to the 

 excellent wife and rosy children of my friend, and to his 

 kind nephew. Jedediah Irish, shouldered his heavy 

 rifle, accompanied me, and trudging directly across the 

 mountains, we arrived at Mauch Chunk in good time for 

 dinner. At Mauch Chunk, where we both spent the 

 night, Mr. White, the civil engineer, visited me, and look- 

 ed at my drawings which I had made at the Great Pine 

 Forest. The news he gave me of my sons, then in Ken- 

 tucky, made me still more anxious to move in their direc- 

 tion ; and long before daybreak I shook hands with the 

 good man of the forest, and found myself moving towards 

 the capital of Pennsylvania, having as my sole companion 

 a sharp frosty breeze. Left to my thoughts, I felt amazed 

 that such a place as the Great Pine Forest should be so 

 little known to the Philadelphians, scarcely any of whom 

 could direct me towards it. 



" Night came on as I was thinking of such things, 

 , and I was turned out of the coach, in the streets of the 



