very large powerful man, returned hug for hug, till the surprised bear
let go its hold. It had ventured into some young plantations, where it
was committing much mischief, and the settler had endeavoured to
frighten it away. A friend of mine was in the house when the gentleman
returned home, his clothes torn in the struggle, and very much exhausted
by the encounter; he dropped into a chair, and nearly fainted, but a
little brandy revived him, though he was ill some days from the
pressure.

A young English officer, who was stationed at a lone fortress in the
same country, amused himself by taming a bear of the above species. He
taught him to fetch and carry, to follow him like a dog, and to wait
patiently at meal time for his share. He took the bear with him when he
returned to England, and he became a great favourite with the passengers
and the ship's company. Bruin, however, especially attached himself to a
little girl, about four years old, the daughter of one of the ladies on
board, who romped with him as she would with a dog. In one of these
games of play, he seized her with one fore paw, and with the other
clambered and clung to the rigging, till he lodged her and himself in
the main top, where, regardless of her cries and the agony of her
mother, he tried to continue his romp. It would not do to pursue the
pair, for fear the bear should drop the child; and his master, knowing
how fond he was of sugar, had some mattresses placed round the mast, in
case the child should fall, and then strewed a quantity of the sugar on
the deck; he called Bruin, and pointed to it, who, after a moment's
hesitation, came down as he went up, bringing the child in safety. He
was, of course, deprived of his liberty during the rest of his voyage.

This same black bear of Canada, after it has hugged its antagonists to
death, tears them open with its hind feet. It will ward off blows like
an accomplished boxer; for, as it would be of no use to strike him on
his thickly-covered body, the attacks are usually made about the head. A
man who wantonly threw an axe at a male bear as he passed, wounded him,
whereupon the beast rushed at him, the man fell backwards over a fallen
tree, and, in so doing, tore off a sharp-pointed knob of wood, which he
thrust down the bear's throat, and so killed him; not, however, before
he had received his own death wound from the hind foot. He walked home
holding in his intestines, and died a day or two after.[2]