THE BLACK BEAK. 259 



was a vade mecum — an indispensable weapon for a Bear- 

 hunter. The double-barrel gun (all were muzzle-loaders in 

 those days) might snap, but there was no discount on a good 

 cane -knife — so called, because it was used for cutting cane. 



When possible, a double-barrel rifle was used. Not 

 many hunters could procure a first-class double-barrel rifle. 

 I found the majority of hunters using the Miss Yager. My 

 own weapons were a Manton double-barrel muzzle-loading, 

 shotgun, No. 12, thirty-two inches long, weighing nine 

 pounds, and a Wesley Richards double-barrel rifle, carry- 

 ing forty balls to the pound, thirty inches long, and weigh- 

 ing ten pounds. I used a knife, a genuine bowie, with tin 

 eigh teen-inch blade. 



At this time, my weapons would be a Winchester Express 

 rifle, a Colt' s revolver (army size), and a bowie-knife. The 

 rapid destruction of the big game of America is due to that 

 powerful weapon, the Winchester Express. During the big 

 overflows of the last fifteen years, the Black Bears have been 

 nearly exterminated by hunters in canoes threading the 

 mazes of the Mississippi bottoms and its big tributaries. 

 Their victims were perched in trees, which they could see 

 a long way off, and canoe-loads were slaughtered by this 

 deadly weapon in a day. 



The dogs I should recommend to the novice, in getting 

 together a pack for Bear-hunting, would be, first, the gen- 

 uine thorough-bred black-and-tan Deer-hound. It is the 

 best fighter, the best ' ' stick-to-him ' ' dog I ever hunted 

 with, and decidedly the coldest trailer. I would want 

 some half-dozen of these, and at least four of them bitches. 

 I have found the bitch the best trailer, the best fighter, 

 and the best stayer. I had a bitch that once followed a 

 Bear for forty hours, until some hunter killed the Bear — 

 how much longer she would have followed is idle to say. 



Having secured the hounds, I would urge the hunter to 

 get several Scotch Lurchers, to cross upon his black-and- 

 tans. Next, about a dozen of the best curs and shaggy- 

 coated mongrels that he could secure, and especially two or 

 three genuine wire-haired Scotch-terriers. These last are 



