BEAES. 147 



bass-drum-like "huff, huff." Its prowess as an antagonist has 

 given rise to many superstitions among the Indians, and they 

 have a wholesome terror of the animal. The trappers and hunters 

 in its domain tell over the camp fire and their pipes, some extra- 

 ordinary narrations of " b'ar-fights." Probably of no other wild 

 animal have such exaggerated and highly-coloured stories been 

 circulated as of the grizzly, till a " bear story " has passed into a 

 current phrase as a term to denote any narration somewhat too 

 " big " even for the people that delight in exaggeration. 



A remarkable feature about grizzly bears, which perhaps ac- 

 counts for many of the red man's stories concerning them, is their 

 extraordinary vitality. Unless shot directly through the brain, they 

 are not killed, which fearfully increases the risk incurred by a 

 man venturing to attack them even if he is well-armed. For with 

 ten bullets in his body, five of them through the lungs, an animal 

 was reported to have swum a considerable distance, and survived 

 more than twenty minutes ; and another actually ran a quarter 

 of a mile after a bullet had torn its way through his heart. An 

 encounter with a bear is therefore generally a hazardous under- 

 taking, and one fraught with peril, safety resting entirely upon 

 the accuracy of the aim and the reliability of the weapon. Daniel 

 Boone's celebrated prayer, when he found himself face to face with 

 a grizzly, and armed only with a scalping-knife, " Lord, here's 

 a-going to be one of the biggest b'ar-fights you ever did see; and 

 if you can't help me, for God's sake don't help the b'ar ! " showed 

 that famous pioneer's opinion of his equal chances with his 



opponent. 



Parker Gillmore* had a narrow escape from a " grizzly" during 

 his wanderings in the West. He came suddenly upon the animal 

 and was at once attacked, the bear advancing with his nose 

 curled up, showing his formidable teeth, which gave him anything 

 but a pleasant expression. " Ten— more probably eight— yards 

 intervened between us," writes this hunter ; " my gun was pointed 

 for his heart; bang went one barrel, but the foe did not fall; 

 rapid as lightning the left was put in, and the huge creature fell. 

 Stepping a few paces back, I hastened to load; the right bullet 



' "An Hunter's Adventures in the Great West," 1871. 

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