124 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
travellers we find recorded such astonishing instances of 
his strength, ferocity, and extraordinary tenacity of life 
as would indeed amaze us, were we not aware how much 
the human mind is prone, under certain circumstances, 
to fall into exaggeration, in many cases most certainly 
unintentional. Making, however, all due allowances 
for the existence of this very natural feeling, we are 
bound to acknowledge that there are few animals who 
can compete with this terrible beast; and that to be 
made the object of his pursuit is an occurrence well 
calculated to alarm the stoutest heart, even when pro- 
vided with the most certain and deadly weapons of 
human invention, guided by the most experienced eye, 
and directed by the steadiest hand. 
This tremendous animal appears to be most commonly 
found in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, 
especially on the well wooded plains which skirt the 
eastern declivity of that lofty and extensive range, among 
thick copses of brush and underwood, and on the banks 
of the water-courses which descend in innumerable petty 
streams from their sources in the hills. In these wild 
solitudes, rarely trodden by the foot of civilized man, 
and visited only by the savage Indians of the neighbour- 
ing tribes, who have not yet learned to bow the neck 
beneath the yoke of the exterminating conqueror, he 
reigns the almost undisputed tyrant of the forest. Few 
among the animals which share with him his barbarous 
habitation are fleet enough to escape him in the chase ; 
and none, when fairly placed within his reach, are 
powerful enough to withstand his overwhelming force. 
Even the sturdy and formidable Bison, the wild bull of 
North America, is incapable of offerimg any effectual 
resistance to the furious impetuosity of his attack; and 
