AN EXCITING BEAR HUNT. 



205 



waters of the Kuban, from Stavropol, saw 

 herds of elk, and counted 26 bush-tails in a 

 pack of wolves that were chasing a doe 

 across his trail, but found the snow-drifts 

 so deep that he had to content himself with 

 a cliff-point view of the highlands proper, 

 that towered along the Southern horizon 

 in their ice-crowns and mantles of ever- 

 green pinewoods. 



THE DRAGON MYSTERY. 



A British army surgeon gives an inter- 

 esting account of the sculptured ruins of 

 Aboo Destur on the upper Nile, where em- 

 blems of dragons figure among lions, ser- 

 pents and baboons. The dragons exhibit 

 the conventional coil-tail, but the excres- 

 cences on their shoulders are too short to 

 resemble wings and seem to have been in- 

 tended for fins or flippers. Could they 

 have been meant for the paddles of the 

 monstrous fish-lizard, and thus account for 

 the dragon traditions that are found in all 

 the ancient chronicles of the world, from 

 China to Portugal? The word dragon, ac- 

 cording to Webster, is derived from a 

 Greek verb meaning " to gaze or stare," in 



allusion to the terrible eyes of the creature, 

 and it would have been an understatement 

 to call the optics of the ichthyosaurus 

 saucer-eyes. They had a diameter of 13 

 inches and a peculiar arrangement that en- 

 abled the ogre to change their focal range 

 like that of a telescope and discern its prey 

 as easily in deep sea water as on the banks 

 of distant river deltas. Aquatic champions 

 of that kind can hardly have perished from 

 the effects of the deluge, and may actually 

 have been exterminated by the primitive 

 tribes of mankind. 



ZOOLOGICAL HUNTING-GROUNDS. 



Professor Hagenbeck, the proprietor of 

 the big Hamburg sale menagerie, has 

 agents in every larger seaport town of the 

 tropics, but his 2 best supply stations are 

 Port Natal, on the East coast of Africa, and 

 Singapore, at the Southern extremity of the 

 Asiatic mainland. Hundreds of African 

 giant-cats are shipped every year via Natal, 

 and Singapore is so close to the great ape- 

 island of Sumatra that kidnapped specimens 

 of our Darwinian cousins can be ferried 

 across in 2 hours. 



AN EXCITING BEAR HUNT. 



A. PLUMMER. 



Missoula, Mont. 



Editor Recreation: In the summer of 

 '65 I made a trip from Salt Lake City to 

 the then booming mining camp of Virginia 

 City, Montana. There were 4 of us in the 

 party, and we were all tenderfeet. We 

 passed through Port Neuff canyon, a wild 

 and rugged place which afterward became 

 famous as the scene of a great stage rob- 

 bery, when over $60,000 was taken from 

 the express box. 



A small stream runs through this can- 

 yon, with trees and brush growing thickly 

 along its banks. 



We were driving slowly up this creek, 

 when suddenly a large, black bear walked 

 out of the timber and crossed the road, 

 directly in front of us. 



He did not appear to be alarmed by our 

 presence; in fact did not seem to notice 

 us at all. 



We were immediately thrown into the 

 wildest confusion. Here was the chance 

 we had all been waiting for, to distinguish 

 ourselves. Not one of us had ever seen a 

 bear, and all wanted the honor of doing up 

 Mr. Bruin. We were sure all we needed 

 was to get a shot at him. Consequently 

 we all 4 fired at about the same time. One 

 of the shots hit him in the thigh, making 

 it possible for us to follow him on foot. 



He started up a small gulch, on the side 

 of the canyon. Our party divided, 2 going 

 up on each side of the gulch. We kept up 

 a perfect fusillade of shots, as we caught 

 glimpses of him going through the brush. 

 We had to shoot down into the ravine, 

 and all being green hands our shots were 

 somewhat wild and uncertain. 



After an exciting run of a mile and a 

 half, the bear emerged into an open space, 

 where he had no protection at all. This he 

 seemed to realize and immediately turned 

 and retraced his steps. We followed and 

 kept up our promiscuous shooting, when- 

 ever we could get a glimpse of the -bear. 

 In fact we fired at everything that looked 

 like bear. 



He passed right back over his tracks, 

 going by the wagons again, and finally 

 reached the main stream. I then fired my 

 last shot, which hurt him badly, for he 

 turned and bit himself. My companion 

 then shot and hit him in the head, as he 

 turned toward us, and the bear dropped 

 dead in the stream. 



On skinning him we found he was liter- 

 ally shot to pieces — 30 bullets having 

 struck him. It is a curious fact that the 

 last shot fired, was the only one of the 30 

 that could have caused death, none of the 

 others having touched a vital spot. 



