settlement of this country, an expedition was
sent to explore a part of the territory now called Missouri. Bears were
found there, at that time, in great abundance, and of very large size.
Some of the men belonging to the expedition were in a canoe one day,
when they discovered a bear lying in the open grounds, about three
hundred paces from the river. Six of the men, all good hunters,
immediately went to attack him, and concealing themselves by a small
eminence, came within forty paces of him before they were perceived.
Four of the hunters now fired, as nearly as they could at the same
instant, and each lodged a ball in his body, two of which entered the
lungs. The furious animal then sprang up, and ran upon the men, with his
mouth wide open, ready for a terrible attack. As he came near, the two
hunters who had reserved their fire gave him two rounds, one of which,
breaking his shoulder, retarded his progress for a moment; but before
they could reload, he was so near that they were obliged to run to the
river. Before they reached it, he had almost overtaken them. Two jumped
into the canoe; the other four separated, and concealing themselves
among the willows, fired as fast as they could reload. They hit him
several times; but instead of weakening the monster, each shot only
seemed to direct him toward the hunters, till at last he pursued two of
them so closely, that they threw aside their guns and pouches, and
jumped down a perpendicular bank of some fifteen feet into the river.
The bear sprang after them, and was within a few feet of the hindermost,
when one of the hunters on the shore shot him in the head, and finally
killed him. They dragged him to the shore, and found that eight balls
had passed through him, in different directions.

While a British frigate was locked in the ice of the Polar seas, three
bears were discovered one morning, directing their course toward the
ship. They had undoubtedly been attracted by the scent of a part of the
carcass of a sea-horse that the crew had killed a few days before, which
had been set on fire, and was burning on the ice at the time of their
approach. They proved to be a female bear and her two cubs; but the cubs
were nearly as large as the mother. They ran eagerly to the fire, and
drew out of the flames a part of the flesh of the sea-horse which
remained unconsumed, and ate it voraciously. Some of the crew threw
large pieces of the flesh from the ship upon the ice, which th