»779-
S e p tem b e r .
¿Sunday 2 6 .
Monday 27.
the 2.6th, I attended him to church. T h e congregation confided
o f his own fam ily , three Kamtfchadale men, and three
boys, w ho affifted in finging part o f the fervice ; the whole
o f w h ich was performed in a ve ry folemn and ed ify in g
manner. T h e church is o f wood, and by far the bed building
»either "in this town, or in that o f St. Peter and St. Paul. It is
ornamented with many paintings, particularly with two p ictures
o f St. Peter and St. Paul, prefented b y Beering ; and
which, in the real richnefs'of their drapery, would carry o ff
th e prize from the fird o f our European performances ;
fo r all the principal parts o f it are made o f thick plates o f
folid filver, fadened to the canvafs, and fafhioned into the
various foldings o f the robes w ith which the figures were
clothed.
T h e next day, I fet on foot another hunting party, and
put m y fe lf under the direction o f the Clerk o f the pariih,
who was a celebrated bear-hunter. We arrived, by fun-fet,
at the fide o f one o f the larger lakes. T he next dep was to
conceal ourielves as m u ch as pofiible ; and this we were able
to do ve ry e ffeftually, among fome long grafs and brufh-
twood, that g rew clofe to the water’s edge. We had not
la in long in ambufh, before we had the pleafure to hear the
growlin gs o f bears in different parts round about us ; and
o u r e xp ed ition s were fbon gratified, by the fight o f one o f
them in the water, w hich feemed to be fwimming d ire itly
*0 th e place where w e la y hid. T he moon, at this time,
g a v e a confiderable ligh t ; and when the animal had advanced
about fifteen yards, three o f us fired at it, pretty
nea rly at the fame time, T he bead immediately turned
ihort on one fide, and fet up a noife, which could not properly
be called roaring, nor growlin g, nor y e llin g , but was
a mixture
a mixture o f all three, and horrible beyond defcription. We s '¿j09b-, r_
plainly faw that it waS feverely wounded, and that with d if- <--*— '
ficulty it gained the bank, and retreated to fome thick
buihes at a little didance- It dill continued to make the
fame loud and terrible noife •, and though the Iiamtfchadales
were perfuaded it was mortally wounded, and could get no
farther, yet they thought it mod advifeable not to roufe it
again for the prefent. It was, at this time, pad nine
o’c lo e k ; and the night becoming overcad, and threatening
a change o f weather, we thought it mod prudent to return
home, and defer the gratification o f our curiofity till mornin
g, when we returned to the fpot, and found the bear dead
in the place to which it had been watched. It proved to be
a female, and beyond the common fize.
As the account o f our fird hunting party w ill be apt to
giv e the reader a wrong idea o f the method in w hich this
fport is ufu a lly conducted; it may not be amifs to add a few
more words on the fu b je c t; and which I am the better able
to do fince this lad expedition.
When the natives come to the ground frequented by the
bears, which they contrive to reach about fun-fet, the fird
dep is to look fo r their tracks, to examine which are the
frefhed, and the bed fituated with a view to concealment,
and taking aim at the bead, either as h e is palling by, or
advancing in front, or go in g from them. Thefe tracks are
found in the greated numbers, leading from the .w ood s
down to the lakes, and among the long fedgy grafs and
brakes b y the edge o f the water. T he place o f ambufcade
being determined upon, the hunters next fix in the ground
the crutches, upon w hich their firelocks are made to red,
pointing them in the direflion they mean to make their
V o l . B R r fcot.