found a haven of safety after meeting their trying reverses on the
fourth exploring expedition. To them, the sight of this town must have
been hailed with delight. In Red River there live two old trappers,
who have long since been weaned from the habits and manners of
civilization. These two men are Canadians, one of them notorious for
the "yarns" he can spin; but as they are many of them past belief,
they are listened to by the traveler as a help to pass the time while
he is obliged to tarry in the place. A young English nobleman who was
on a visit of pleasure to the western country, once fell into this
man's clutches, and, from the trapper's after boasting, we infer that
he (the trapper) more than surpassed himself in story-telling. Among
other things, he informed this nobleman that he had once mastered
a grizzly bear in a hand-to-hand fight by cramming a stick that was
sharpened at both ends into the bear's mouth in such a way that the
monster could not close his jaws, because it fastened and kept them
open. Being asked by the nobleman how large were the _hare_ in that
vicinity of country, his answer was, that he had seen them of such
a magnitude that one would be a load for a man, and that when strung
across the hunter's shoulder, one part was sure to be dragging on the
ground. He then boasted that he had killed a grasshopper that, with
his head cut off, weighed _six ounces_. Notwithstanding his love of
talk, this old man had once been a brave and famous hunter; but no
confidence could be placed in him, owing to his habituated want of
regard for truth and honor; hence, he has long since been excluded
from the companionship of the mountaineers. The English gentleman
above spoken of was an experienced traveler, and therefore undoubtedly
knew how to weigh the truth of his astonishing information.