218 THEOUGH TPIE MACKENZIE BASIN 



fectly furious, and it came on so very quickly that tliere was 

 no time to reload the gun; but just as it was about to spring 

 at and close with the man who had fired the gun at it, the 

 other man struck fiercely at it with his spear, and both soon 

 dispatched it with their knives. This animal will not only 

 hug, and if possible crush, any unfortunate falling into its 

 clutches, hut will also bite with its sharp teeth and scratch 

 viciously with its powerful claws, a.s Indians and Eskimos 

 have occasionally experienced to their cost. In the spring 

 of 1864, one of the leading men of the Mackenzie River 

 Eskimos, while hunting with a comrade on the slopes of a 

 high sea-ibank, was suddenly attacked, knocked over, and 

 severely bitten by a large male, which would doubtless have 

 speedily finished him had not his companion, who happened 

 to be near by, killed the bear by a quick and well-directed 

 knife thrust. Another instance of biting occurred in the 

 Anderson Barren Grounds in the month of August in the 

 same year. An Indian on a hunting tour observed an animal 

 of this species, which he determined to shoot, reposing on 

 the top of a knoll, but to make sure of his quarry he crawled 

 quite close to it, and on pulling the trigger of his gun it 

 unfortunately snapped ; but the sound awoke the bear and 

 before the Indian could draw his knife he was thrown down, 

 and the bear at once began to bite him in the shoulders, 

 arms, and legs ; but for some unknown reason it soon desisted 

 and disappeared, leaving the poor fellow in a badly muti- 

 lated and helpless condition. Luckily for him, his friends 

 missed him and a search was made which resulted in his 

 discovery; he was then taken on to his own lodge, not far 

 away, where he was carefully attended to, but some three 

 or four months elapsed before he recovered sufficiently to 

 be able to hunt again, and he will no doubt carry the scars 

 of the wounds of his very narrow escape from death to his 

 grave. The wonder is that he was not killed outright. 



Early in the morning of July 15, 1865, as I was in my 

 tent, emptying some birds' eggs gathered the previous day a 



