150 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

master a bison, and drag him to his retreat. He is by far
the most dangerous brute of North America. He unhesi-
tatingly pursues both men and animals; but, though he feeds
on flesh, he is capable of subsisting upon roots and fruits.
He is very tenacious of life, and will pursue his enemy after
having received repeated mortal wounds. He is found in
the eastern vicinity of the Rocky Mountains. Though the
Grizzly will sometimes move off on the approach of the
traveller, without showing fight, he will at other times attack
him with great ferocity. A man named Nathan Rogers who
lived on a ranch in the mountains about a mile above
West Point, near the North Fork of the Mokelumne, once
had a terrific encounter with a grizzly bear. He was out
shooting small game when he was suddenly confronted by
an enormous animal. He fired his only shot into the breast
of the bear and then awaited his attack. The fight was
fast and furious, and though in the end the grizzly was killed,
the man only survived in a terrible condition. Conscious
that he must soon have help or perish, he summoned all
his resolution and staggered along, and managed to reach
a spring in sight of a house, when his endurance gave way,
and he fell in a dead faint by the water’s edge. Fortunately
he was soon discovered by his son, a lad of some twelve
years, who immediately gave the alarm. In addition to his
horrible wounds, the shock to his system was a terrible
one. His left arm, literally mangled and torn to shreds,
had to be amputated at the shoulder. His left clavicle and
scapula were fractured, and the three lower ribs on the right
side broken, The flesh and muscles on his back were so
broken and abraded that the vertebrze were actually visible
in places; while, his lower limbs were literally seamed and
furrowed by the crooked claws of the bear’s hind feet. The
left side of the bear was literally torn to pieces, there being
no less than twenty-two knife-wounds, nearly every one of
which reached to a vital point. Some idea of his size