h. He fired; the bear was evidently wounded,
although but slightly, and he began roaring and scratching his neck in a
most furious manner, and looking vindictively at the boar, which, at the
report of the rifle, had merely raised his head for a moment, and then
resumed his meal. Bruin was certainly persuaded that the wound he had
received had been inflicted by the beast below. He made up his mind to
punish him, and, to spare the trouble and time of descending, dropped
from the tree, and rushed upon the boar, which met him at once, and,
notwithstanding Bruin's great strength, he proved to him that a ten
years' old wild boar, with seven-inch tusks, was a very formidable
antagonist. Bruin soon felt the tusks of the boar ripping him up; ten
or twelve streams of blood were rushing from his sides, yet he did not
give way; on the contrary, he grew fiercer and fiercer, and at last the
boar was almost smothered under the huge paws of his adversary. The
struggle lasted a few minutes more, the grunting and growling becoming
fainter and fainter, till both combatants lay motionless. They were dead
when Gabriel came up to them; the bear horribly mangled, and the boar
with every bone of his body broken. Gabriel filled his hat with the
persimons which were the cause of this tragedy, and returned to the camp
for help and ammunition.

Finn, Boone, and I resumed our journey, and after a smart ride of two
hours we entered upon a beautiful spot, called "Magnet Cove." This is
one of the great curiosities of the Arkansas, and there are few planters
who do not visit it at least once in their lives, even if they have to
travel a distance of one hundred miles.

It is a small valley surrounded by rocky hills, one or two hundred feet
high, and forming a belt, in the shape of a horse-shoe. From these rocks
flow hundreds of sulphuric springs, some boiling and some cold, all
pouring into large basins, which their waters have dug out during their
constant flow of so many centuries. These mineral springs are so very
numerous in this part of the country, that they would scarcely be worth
mentioning, were it not that in this valley, for more than a mile in
circumference, the stones and rocks, which are of a dull black colour
and very heavy, are all magnetic.

It is a custom for every visitor to bring with him some pieces of iron,
to throw against the rocks: the appearance is very strange; old
horse-shoes, forks, knives, bars of iron, nails, and barrels