afterwards John Morison was going on the opposite side of the river to
Peterborough, when, upon crossing a small creek, he came quite
unexpectedly on the carcass of a large bear, not thirty yards from the
bank we had seen him climb. No doubt B-----'s shot was the fatal one,
as he was not more than five or six yards from him when he fired. The
stream, where the beast was found, is in the township of Smith, about a
mile and a half from Peterborough, on the river road, and is well-known
by the name of Bear Creek to this day.

There is very little danger of being attacked by Bruin, unless you
first molest him. An old she-bear, with cubs, is the most dangerous
customer to meddle with.

Major Elliott, of the Canadian Militia, a gentleman with whom I was
well acquainted, residing near Rice Lake, in the township of Monaghan,
was out one day in the woods partridge-shooting, near the big swamp on
the boundary line between Monaghan and Cavan, when he fell in with
several old bears and their cubs. He had only one ball with him which
he fired at the biggest fellow he could see among them, and wounded him
very severely, though not enough to stop him from following his
companions. But Elliott was not the man to be baulked without an effort
to capture his wounded adversary; so, being in want of a ball, he cut
of from his waistcoat some open-work brass buttons, with which he
loaded his gun, and followed the track of the wounded bear, which he
soon overtook.

Bruin, however, being possessed of considerable pluck, immediately
faced about and attacked the major, who gave him a taste of the
buttons, as he advanced. But the bear, nothing daunted, returned to the
charge, which Elliott met with a blow from the butt-end of his gun,