roots: the earth may be trampled, branches of trees broken or the bark scratched by the redoubtable animals.
The bear is hunted in various manners. In winter, it is not very dangerous. The bear is shut up in his den, either alone or, more frequently, with one or two others, remaining several months entirely torpid, only rarely going out to drink; but the trail that they make from their den to the water betrays them, and allows the hunter to discover, pursue and approach them with ease. Bears are generally found in the hollow of some big tree or in a hole in the rocks. The entrance is usually nearly closed. The hunter makes a hole large enough to permit him to make investigations and take the proper measures. In most cases he takes a long stick and feels around until he finds out where the animal lies. If it is a deep hole, he sets fire to a bunch of pitchy twigs on the end of a pole, to reconnoitre the hole and the position of its dangerous occupant. These precautions are necessary to guarantee the success of the shot. Sometimes it even happens that a very bold hunter will go into the cavity, when it is a rock den, and kill his prey at arm's length or with his knife.
There were two Indians at the mission, when I was there, who certainly had earned hunters' diplomas. One assured me that he had killed eleven grizzlies and seventy black or brown bears; the other had killed over loo bears, and both without running excessive danger. They told me some interesting particulars, as for instance that the skin of the bear is only bad in summer, when the hair has no firmness. In spring, the bear feeds on roots and herbs; he is especially fond of the leaves of a plant that resembles our cabbage. He also eats with avidity the worms that he finds under stumps or rocks, often lifting very large stones in search of them, since his strength is prodigious. In autumn, he subsists principally on berries from the low bushes, and he is so greedy for them that at this time it is easy to approach him. When a hunter finds a bear's track, or the path worn by the animal, he lies in