Southern Christian Advocate

MISCELLANEOUS.

GRIZZLY BEARS.

Stories of Grizzly Bears in California, are as plenty as the gold nuggets. Every returned Californian who has been to the mountains, has a story to tell of an encounter with a grizzly bear, real or imaginary; but no one who has ever seen one of these monsters, or who has been closely pushed by them in the mountains will deny that they are facts themselves. Their immense strength and ferocity, is enough to make the stoutest hunter's heart quake with alarm, while their tenacity of life is equal to that of the cat, which is reputed to have nine lives.

Some of these bears weigh as heavy as twelve or fourteen hundred pounds, and to give some idea of the terror which their proximity inspires in other animals, it is only sufficient to state the fact, that mules in a team, which have neither heard, smelt, nor seen one of them, become uncontrollable when they cross their trail so near them as to catch the scent; and a friend of mine tells me that he once passed the claw of a grizzly, which had been killed some time, before the nostrils of one of his mules, when the animal became fearfully terror-stricken, so much so that it was with difficulty he could be held. I have seen it stated by old hunters, as an illustration of the grizzly's tenacity of life, that they have been known to escape after having been shot through the heart, as was proved after being found the day following where they had died. They are "terrible in their wrath," for a certainty, and I should not be surprised if they would not be more than a match for the largest lion, so great is their bulk and so enormous their strength.

They are not safe for any man to meet with a single barrelled rifle, and when overtaken by them the only chance of escape is to lie flat down upon your face, and pretend death, as it is known they will not prey upon carcasses unless almost at the point of starvation.

I recollect some time ago, reading an account of a rocky mountain hunter who was overtaken by a grizzly, while separated from his party, and finding escape by flight impossible, he lay down and pretended to be dead. The bear approached him, smelt of him, turned him over with his paws, and nosed about his face and person for some time, when evidently supposing that the man was really dead, he commenced pawing up the earth by the side of him, and when the bear had dug considerable of a hole, he rolled the hunter over into it, and covered him up with earth and leaves, and after waiting a few minutes longer, and being satisfied that he had interred his subject properly, he marched away. When the hunter had lain long enough to get up with safety, he crawled out of his grave, not a little gratified at his deliverance. The bear had only covered him lightly with dirt and leaves, so that there was not much danger of his being smothered, but the hunter said no man could imagine the horrible sensation he experienced while the grizzly was holding an inquest on him and the difficulty he experienced in carrying out his deception. It may be stated here that the grizzly bear is in the habit of burying all dead carcasses he meets in the mountains or on the plains.

The funniest escape, however, from a grizzly was told to us by a returned Californian about three years ago. Being out one day, prospecting for new diggings, he saw one of these monsters approaching him down a mountain path, and as he had come upon him suddenly, and finding that an attempt to escape was impossible, he resolved upon a most novel and interesting expedient. Immediately dropping upon all fours, they approached each other, with some strange suspicion on both sides. As soon as they met they struck their noses together, dog fashion, and finally they went through all the formality of strange dogs meeting each other, till finally, master Bruin, being satisfied with the civilities of his new acquaintance, he bade him a very affectionate adieu, and marched off. I am not prepared to vouch for the authenticity of the above.