APRIL 21, 1906.] 
FOREST AND’ STREAM, 




























































































































x SSsah 

MLE a 
SUEY 
SAN 
sae 5 all) 
SSS oS Uy | Z 

CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A GRIZZLY BEAR. 
winter, he got many a fine skin; and the wolves 
and their ways greatly interested him. He pur- 
chased from an Indian woman a cross-bred dog, 
which was half wolf, “white like his sire, and 
furnished both with the hair of the dog and a 
fine undergrowth of fur, which he had in com- 
mon with the wolf. The skin of his nose was also, 
like that of his sire, quite white.’ When he 
first obtained this dog it was very much afraid 
of him, and could not be approached. But after 
a time it made friends with its owner, and 
afterward accompanied him on many of his jour- 
neys, dragging the travois which carried Pal- 
liser’s scanty supplies. Not very long after he 
had procured Ishmah, Palliser started up the 
river alone over the ice to reach Fort Mac- 
kenzie. On this journey he had an alarm which 
he described as follows: 
“Ishmah’s relationship to the Lupus family 
was often productive of much inconvenience to 
me, as he used to run off and engage in play 
with the young wolves, chasing and_ being 
chased by them in turn. At first I was amused 
at this indication of his wild origin, but became 
subsequently much annoyed, and on one occa- 
sion seriously alarmed at the result of these 
gambols. One day, after a long march, I was 
looking out for a convenient camping place, 
when a she wolf crossed the ice at some dis- 
tance from where I was standing. In spite of 
all my exertions and threats, Ishmah immedi- 
ately gave chase, and they continued their gam- 
bols, until I attempted to approach them, when 
of course the wolf made off at full speed, fol- 
lowed by my dog, with his travail behind him, 
loaded with everything I then possessed in the 
world. I followed, shouting after him in vain, 
until he entirely disappeared from my view, 
after which I continued running on the tracks 
till darkness obliged me to abandon the pursuit, 
and I found myself a long way from timber, 
out on the broad prairie, alone on a vast barren 
iz of snow stretching around me on every 
side. 
“My sensations were anything but enviable 
on reflecting that I was about too miles from 
any known habitation, and nearly one hundred 
and fifty from my destination, destitute of robe 
and blankets, with but very little powder in 
my horn, and only two bullets in my pouch. In 
short, I was in a pretty miserable sort of a fix, 
and had nothing for it but to make tracks again 
with all speed for the timber. Fortunately I 
found my way back to the river without much 
difficulty. It was a beautiful moonlight night, 
which enabled me to collect some fallen wood, 
and having lighted a fire, I seated myself be- 
side it, and began to consider the probabilities 
of my ever reaching a trading post alive, in the 
event of Ishmah’s not returning, and how I 
should economize my ammunition and increase 
my rate of traveling, so as to effect this 
object. My prospects were dismal enough, nor 
did I feel cheered as the cold north breeze froze 
the perspiration which had run down my fore- 
head and face, and formed icicles in my beard 
and whiskers, that jingled like bells as I shook 
my head in dismissing from my mind one pro- 
ject after another. At last, resigning myself to 
my fate, I took out my pipe, determined to con- 
sole myself with a smoke, when, alas, on feeling 
for tobacco, I found that was gone too. This 
was the climax of my misfortune. I looked to 
the north star and calculated by the position of 
the plow that it must have been about 10 
o’clock, the time at which in England we have 
our knees under the mahogany, surrounded by 
friends, discussing a bottle of the best and 
awaiting the summons to tea in the drawing 
room. I tried to see a faint similarity to the 
steam of the tea-urn in the smoke from the 
snow-covered wood on my dreamy fire, and en- 
deavored to trace the forms of sweet, familiar 
faces in the embers, til! I almost heard the 
rustling of fresh crepe dresses round me, when, 
hark! I did hear a rustle—it approaches nearer, 
nearer, and I recognize the scraping of Ishmah’s 
travail on the snow; another moment and the 
panting rascal was at my side. I never felt so 
relieved, and laughed out loud for sheer joy as 
I noticed the consciousness he showed by his 
various cringing movements of having behaved 
very badly. I was too well pleased, however, 
at his appearance to beat him, particularly when 
I found nothing of his harness and load either 
missing or injured in the slightest degree. Even 
the portion of meat that I had secured from 
the last deer shot was untouched; so that I had 
nothing to do but unpack the travail, make my 
bed and cook our supper.” ‘ 
The next spring, after the ice had gone out, 
Palliser led a hunting party up the Yellow- 
stone River, for food was very scarce at Fort 
Union. Elk and deer were abundant, and it was 
here that Palliser first saw the grosse-corne, or 
bighorn, which he describes at length. It was 
not long before he secured a good ram, and as 
game was very plenty they accumulated much 
meat, skins and furs. Besides the buffalo, big- 
horn, elk, deer and antelope, on which they 
feasted, the men caught plenty of catfish from 
the river. While on this trip they met one 
party of Indians and avoided another. 
Palliser gives an interesting account of an ex- 
perience with a buffalo calf, new-born, which 
he and others followed on foot for five or six 
miles before catching up with it at all: 
‘By and by the little calf began to show symp- 
tons of failing, and the cow, allowing her in- 
stinct of self-preservation to overcome her 
maternal attachment, made the best of her way 
off, and crossing some inequalities in the 
ground, was lost to the sight of her offspring. 
The little fellow then stopped, whereupon 
Dauphin, who possessed a wonderful faculty for 
imitating the calls of animals, immediately be- 
gan to grunt like a buffalo cow, and to our 
great amusement the little beast turned about, 
cocked up his tail and came galloping back to 
us. We then turned about, and to our great 
delight it frisked about us all the way into the 
camp.” 
By this time Palliser had been a long time in 
the country and had killed pretty much all the 
game found there except the grizzly bear. Of 
these he had seen none, and he was particularly 
anxious to kill one. Jt was some little time 
before he did so, but at length his day came, 
for he found the tracks of a bear leading from a 
buffalo carcass near a water course, called it to 
him by imitating the grunt of a buffalo calf and 
then killed it with a single ball, shooting it 
through the neck. 
Later Palliser killed more than one bear by 
this same means—calling them up to him by 














PITCHED BATTLE BETWEEN AN HEROIC OLD BULL AND A BISON, 
