k
round to ascertain whether you have any spare meat left for their supper."
The grisly bear is of far more formidable character. Swift of foot, very
powerful, and of enormous size, he jumps on the back of the largest
buffalo, and kills him with apparent ease. He walks out from behind a rock
or thicket, drives the hunters from their fire, and, if they have not left
him the materials of a hearty meal, follows them with alarming boldness
and rapidity. Dr Coulter relates a running fight he had with one of them,
who pursued him and his companion for nearly a mile, and fell only when he
had received fifteen rifle-balls in his head and body. They do not always
take so much shooting, one ball or two sometimes sufficing as a _quietus_;
but this fellow was unusually large and tenacious of life. "The hunter
said, when he buried his tomahawk in the skull of the brute, as he yet,
though blind with the shot, kept upon his haunches--'I'm of opinion,
grisly bear, you're the biggest and hardest critter of your kind to kill
ever I shot at.'" The Indians cut off the claws of these beasts, and wear
them on a string round their necks as trophies of bravery and prowess.

We have loitered on dry land, and deserted the Hound, whose vagabond
course led her, after quitting the Kingsmill group, to the distant shores
of New Ireland, one of the Australasian islands. Here the king of the
country came on board--a tall, coal-black man of commanding appearance, a
fine specimen of a savage, decorated with bones, shells, and red feathers.
Some of his front teeth were dyed red--a Papuan custom which Dr Coulter
assures us, and we readily believe, gives a demon-like finish to these
ferocious barbarians. His majesty was accompanied by an Englishman, one
Thomas Manners, who had been landed at his own request from a whale ship,
and had passed ten years amongst the savages, to whom in manners and
appearance he was considerably assimilated. He had married the king's
daughter, was a great chief, and perfectly contented with his condition.
There appear to be a vast number of these barbarised Europeans dwelling on
the various islands of the Pacific, some amongst the savages, over whom
they usually exercise considerable authority, others alone, in isolated
nooks, often with Indian wives and a numerous half-cast progeny. The
doctor scarcely touched anywhere without meeting with one or more of these
outcasts from civilisation, the adventures of most of whom would furni