60 
THE HISTORY OF 
little farther, at last they made a lucky shot, that our straggler had the good 
fortune to heai:, and he returning the salute, they soon found each other with 
no small satisfaction. But though they lighted oh the man, they could by no 
means light on his horse, and therefore he was obliged to be a foot soldier 
all the rest of the journey. Our Indian shot a bear so prodigiously fat, that 
there was no way to kill him but by firing in at his ear. The fore part of the 
skull of that animal being guarded by a double bone, is hardly penetrable, 
and when it is very fat, a bullet aimed at his body is apt to lose its force, be- 
fore it reaches the vitals. This animal is pf the dog kind, and our Indians, as 
well as woodsmen, are as fond of its flesh as the Chinese can be of that of 
the common hound. 
22d. Early in the morning we sent back two men to make further search 
for the horse that was strayed away. We were unwilling the poor man 
should sustain such a damage as would eat out a large part of his pay, or 
that the public should be at the expense of reimbursing him for it. These 
foresters hunted all over the neighbouring woods, and took as much pains as 
if the horse had been their own property, but all their diligence was to no 
purpose. The surveyors, in the mean time, being fearful of leaving these 
men too far behind, advanced the line no farther than one mile and two hun- 
dred and thirty poles. As we rode along we found no less than three bears 
and a fat doe, that our Indian, who went out before us, had thrown in our 
course, and we were very glad to pick theni up. About a mile from the 
camp we crossed Miry creek, so called because several of the horses were 
mired in its branches. About two hundred and thirty poles beyond that, the 
line intersected another river, that seemed to be a branch of the Irvin, to 
which we gave the name of the Mayo, in complement to the other of our 
surveyors. It was about fifty yards wide where we forded it, being just 
below a ledge of rocks, which reached across the river, and made a natural 
cascade. Our horses could hardly keep their feet over these slippery rocks, 
which gave some of their riders no small palpitation. This river forks about 
a quarter of a mile below the ford, and has some scattering canes growing 
near the mouth of it. We pitched our tent on the western banks of the 
Mayo, for the pleasure of being lulled to sleep by the cascade. Here our 
hunters had leisure to go out and try their fortunes, and returned loaded 
with spoil. They brought in no less than six bears, exceedingly fat, so that 
the frying pan had no rest all night. We had now the opportunity of trying 
the speed of this lumpish animal by a fair course it had with the nimblest 
of our surveyors. A cub of a year old will run very fast, because, being 
upon his growth, he is never encumbered with too much fat ; but the old 
ones are more sluggish and unwieldy, especially when mast is plenty. Then 
their nimblest gait is only a heavy gallop, and their motion is still slower 
down hill, where they are obliged to sidle along very awkwardly, to keep 
their lights from rising up into their throat. These beasts always endeavour to 
avoid a man, except they are wounded, or happen to be engaged in the pro- 
tection of their cubs. By the force of these instincts and that of self preserv- 
ation, they will now and then throw off all reverence for their Maker’s 
image. For that reason, excess 'of hunger will provoke them to the same 
desperate attack, for the support of their being. A memorable instance of 
the last case is said to have happened not long ago in New England, where a 
bear assaulted a man just by his own door, and rearing himself upon his 
haunches, offered to take him lovingly into his hug. But the man’s wife ob- 
serving the danger her husband was in, had the courage to run behind the 
bear, and thrust her two thumbs into his eyes. This made Bruin quit the 
man, and turn short upon the woman to take his revenge, but she had the 
presence of mind to spring back with more than female agility, and so both 
their lives were preserved. 
