94 THE GRIZZLY BEAR

trap; a boy severely bitten by a grizzly; and two white
men nearly killed by one of the same species. The
unfortunate Chinaman had nothing to do with the setting
of the trap. He was found dead, with the bear close by
him. The trapper was hurt through over-confidence in
his ability to kill the trapped animal with an axe and
so tried to save a cartridge, of which he was short. The
other two cases were without doubt actually unprovoked
attacks and absolutely authentic. The boy was picking
_ raspberries a short distance back from the Skeena River.
A few days previously he had seen a caribou swimming
across the river, so when he noticed something moving
in some bushes, he thought it was another caribou, and
went to investigate. The first thing he knew he was
knocked down and a bear stood over him growling. He
lay still, and the bear left him and began to move away.
Thereupon he jumped up and started to run, only to be
caught and knocked over a second time. Still he was
not hurt, and once more left. Again he tried to run
before the bear had gone far, and a third time he was
caught, and this time he was bitten on the arm and shoulder.
How he eventually escaped he could not tell, but it is
probable that he fainted and so saved his life by giving
the grizzly sufficient time to make off. I happened to
arrive there the day after the incident happened and
actually saw the boy’s wounds and heard the account of
his adventure.

The last-mentioned case is the most extraordinary of
all. Two prospectors were returning to Atlin for supplies.
They had no rifle with them. On the way they came on
a grizzly that was walking in the same direction they
were, but some fifty yards or so from them. At first
the bear paid no attention to them, nor did the men to
the bear. Then one of them, for some unaccountable
reason, thought fit to bang a gold pan he was carrying.
This the grizzly resented, and immediately went for them.

There were several trees handy and both lost no time
in climbing. But the bear was too quick and grabbed
one of them, knocked him down and started to maul him.