^, 



192 THE GRIZZLY BEAR, 



abundance. The goose, the duck, the pea- 

 cock, etc., are altogether unknown. 



Of wild animals there is not so great a va- 

 riety as in the southern districts of the repnb- 

 hc, where they are found in such abundance. 

 The blacJc and grizzly hear, which are met with 

 in the mountains, do not appear to possess 

 the great degree of ferocity, however, for 

 which the latter especially is so much famed 

 further north. It is true they sometimes de- 

 scend from the mountains into the corn-fields;, 

 and wonderful storfes are told of dreadful 

 combats between them and the lahradores; 

 but judging from a httle adventure I once 

 witnessed, with an old female of the grizzly 

 species, encountered by a party of us along the 

 borders of the great prairies, I am not dispos- 

 ed to consider either their ferocity or their 

 boldness veiy terrible. It was noon, and our 

 company had just halted to procure some re- 

 freshment, when we perceived a group of 

 these interesting animals, — a dam with a fe^v 

 ,cubs fully as large as common wolves 

 busily scratching among the high grass in an 

 adjacent valley, as if in search of roots or in- 

 sects. Some of our party immediately started 

 after the brutes, in hopes of getting a shot at 

 them, in which, however, they were disap- 

 pointed. One or two ' runners,* who had fol- 

 lowed on horseback, then made a desperate 

 charge upon the enemy, but the old monster 

 fled to, the thickets, without even so much as 

 turning once upon her pursuers, although one 

 of her cubs was killed, and the remainder 



