BRUIN AT BAY. 15 



Esquimaux for the spoil that may occasionally be met with. The northern parts 

 of the American Continent, also, contain the fierce Grizzly (the most formidable of 

 all these animals), as well as the Black Bear, together with some varieties of the 

 same species. Asia, Africa, Japan, the Islands of the Indian Archipelago, Africa and 

 South America can all send representatives, so that the great family of the Ursidae 

 is one possessed of the widest distribution. 



The great strength of the Grizzly Bear is attested by Sir John Richardson, 

 who relates the following. A party on the Saskatchewan river were sitting by a fire, 

 busily preparing their supper, when suddenly a large Grizzly sprang over the canoe, 

 that lay behind them, seized one of the men by the shoulder and carried him off. 

 The others fled with the exception of one man, who grasped his gun and followed 

 the animal. He called to his comrade that he was afraid to fire, lest he should 

 hit him ; but the latter entreated him to do so at once, as he was being squeezed 

 to death. He thereupon fired at the animal, which immediately dropped the man 

 that he held, and pursued the new aggressor. The Bear, however, was unable to 

 catch him, and after a fruitless pursuit retired into a thicket, where it was supposed 

 to have died ; but none of the party had courage enough to go and see. The 

 rescued man had his arm fractured and was otherwise severely hurt, but ultimately 

 recovered. 



At times the Bear seems to have a great amount of inquisitiveness, or at 

 least a desire to investigate closely any object that, by the medium of his nose, has 

 filled him with pleasurable emotions. When thus engaged on a voyage of discovery, 

 he is frequently led into difficulties that at other periods he would carefully avoid. 

 I remember an instance, when his desire to have a share in some meat was as 

 disagreeable to the persons present, as it was difficult to get him to leave the vicinity. 

 A moose had recently been killed upon the open ground, in the interior of Nova 

 Scotia, and, after returning to the camp for dinner, the hunters went back to cut 

 up the animal, leaving their rifles behind them, not supposing that there would be 

 any need of the weapons. The ground where the Moose was lying was slightly 

 hilly, covered thickly with rock and loose stones, and entirely destitute of trees. 

 When half through their task, the men perceived the grey nose of a Black Bear 

 suddenly appear on the crest of a hill but a short distance away. This im- 

 portant member was quickly followed by the rest of the animal, which proved to 

 be very large, and evidently a patriarch among his fellows, as he was followed by 



