iad58 | A curious Bear Chaſe (Reply)

From Campbell's Travels in North America.

In one of theſe excursions, many ſtories were told me of the bears in this country; one of which, as being ſomewhat curious, I ſhall relate.

On an iſland called Spoon Iſland which I had paſſed a day or two before, there were ſeven bears killed in one day.* A gentleman and his ſon near a houſe in which I then lodged, had been out working at hay, having pitch-forks and rakes; and ſeeing a monſtrous bear, quite cloſe to the river, they preſſed ſo hard upon him, as to drive him into the water. They then thought they had him ſecure, as there was a boat near him, to which they immediately ran; and having purſued and come up with him, they ſtruck and pelted him with the pitchforks and ſhafts till they broke them to pieces. The exaſperated monſter now, as they had no weapon to annoy him, turned the chaſe on his adverſaries, and, fixing his fore paws upon the gunnel of the boat, attempted to get in. They did all they could to keep him out; but their efforts were in vain. He got in. Thus circumſtanced, they had their choice, either to jump into the water, or continue in the boat to be torn to pieces; they choſe the former, and ſwam a-ſhore. The bear, now maſter of the boat, whence the enemy battered him, was ſo ſeverely galled with the ſtrokes and wounds he had received, that he made no attempt to follow, but continued in the boat; otherwiſe he might have ſoon overtaken them, and had ample revenge, as he could ſwim three times faſter than they.

They ran immediately to the houſe for guns, and when they came back, ſaw him ſitting in the boat, dipping one of his paws now and then in the water, and waſhing his wounds; on which, levelling their pieces, they ſhot him dead.**

The landlord of the houſe I put up at, when this ſtory was told, ſhewed me one of the paws of this bear, which, on account of its great ſize, he kept as a curioſity; and added, that he was as large as any yearling calf. So that one may eaſily conceive the havoc and deſtruction committed in a country ſo much infeſted with ſuch monſtrous and ravenous animals, eſpecially on ſheep, the ſimpleſt and ſillieſt of all creatures, who fall an eaſy prey to beaſts of far leſs magnitude and ſtrength. Many of theſe harmleſs, yet uſeful animals were deſtroyed by bears in this very neighbourhood, where one man ſuſtained the loſs of thirty of his ſheep within a very ſhort ſpace of time, and even young cattle were often devoured and carried off by them; though they prefer ſwine when they can get them, to any other animals.***

The Sporting Magazine, June 1793.

* Villains.
** Villains, I say.
*** So do I, most of the time.