inus Lambertina.

The track is a soft, natural, wagon road, very pleasant to ride on.
The horse was much too big for me, and had plans of his own; but now
and then, where the ground admitted to it, I tried his heavy "lope"
with much amusement. I met nobody, and passed nothing on the road but
a freight wagon, drawn by twenty-two oxen, guided by three fine-looking
men, who had some difficulty in making room for me to pass their
awkward convoy. After I had ridden about ten miles the road went up a
steep hill in the forest, turned abruptly, and through the blue gloom
of the great pines which rose from the ravine in which the river was
then hid, came glimpses of two mountains, about 11,000 feet in height,
whose bald grey summits were crowned with pure snow. It was one of
those glorious surprises in scenery which make one feel as if one must
bow down and worship. The forest was thick, and had an undergrowth of
dwarf spruce and brambles, but as the horse had become fidgety and
"scary" on the track, I turned off in the idea of taking a short cut,
and was sitting carelessly, shortening my stirrup, when a great, dark,
hairy beast rose, crashing and snorting, out of the tangle just in
front of me. I had only a glimpse of him, and thought that my
imagination had magnified a wild boar, but it was a bear. The horse
snorted and plunged violently, as if he would go down to the river, and
then turned, still plunging, up a steep bank, when, finding that I must
come off, I threw myself off on the right side, where the ground rose
considerably, so that I had not far to fall. I got up covered with
dust, but neither shaken nor bruised. It was truly grotesque and
humiliating. The bear ran in one direction, and the horse in another.
I hurried after the latter, and twice he stopped till I was close to
him, then turned round and cantered away. After walking about a mile
in deep dust, I picked up first the saddle-blanket and next my bag, and
soon came upon the horse, standing facing me, and shaking all over. I
thought I should catch him then, but when I went up to him he turned
round, threw up his heels several times, rushed off the track, galloped
in circles, bucking, kicking, and plunging for some time, and then
throwing up his heels as an act of final defiance, went off at full
speed in the direction of Truckee, with the saddle over his shoulders
and the great wooden stirrups thumping his sides, while I trudged
ignominiously along