Dennis, by my direction, cut a strong pole twelve or fourteen feet long, which we laid across the brute’s back, and pressed him down as tightly as we could, which, with the able assistance of Nep. kept my gentleman tolerably quiet till the old man cut and twisted a couple of withes, which he passed under the bear, near the hind and forelegs, and secured him firmly to the pole, which my companions lifted on their shoulders, from which the beast now hung suspended, and commenced our march homewards.

I had great difficulty in keeping the dog off.  He would rush in, every minute, in spite of all I could do, and seize poor Bruin by the side and shake him most unmercifully.  I had enough to do with the help of a stout stick to keep him and the bear in order.  The latter was equally violent striking with his fore-paws at the men who were luckily for them just out of his reach, and particularly so for Dennis, who marched in front, whose unmentionables not being in the best possible repair, appeared to excite Master Bruin’s particular attention.

I very much wished to preserve this creature alive, that I might try and tame him.  In this, however, I was destined to be disappointed; for what with the beating I was obliged to give him to keep him quiet, and the savage attack of the dog, he died just as we came within sight of the clearing.  When we skinned him, we found his side much lacerated where the dog had bitten him.  From the exaggerated description Dennis had given me of his size, I fully expected to find him as big as a bullock.  He, however, only weighed a hundred and fifty-seven pounds, which, for a bear of two years old, which appeared to be his age, is, I believe, the average weight.

The summer of 1825 was warm, even for Canada, where this season is always hot.  The thermometer often ranged above 90 degrees in the shade.  Such weather would be quite unbearable, were it not for a fine breeze which almost invariably springs up from the westward between ten and eleven o’clock in the forenoon, and continues till sunset.

The nights are cooler in proportion to the heat of the day, than in England.

This climate is subject to violent thunder-storms, accompanied by vivid forked lightning and heavy rain, which greatly tend to cool the air and make the country more healthy.  Fatal accidents, however, sometimes occur, and houses and barns are burnt down by the electric fluid, and I have no doubt that, were it not for the proximity of the woods, a great deal more damage would be done.

The lofty trees serve as conductors, particularly the pine and hemlock, the former, from its great height above all the other trees of the forest, being much more likely to be struck by the lightning than any other.  It is a curious fact that the electric fluid invariably follows the grain the wood.  I have often noticed in pines which had been struck, that the fluid had followed the grain in a spiral form, encircling the tree three or four times in its descent to the earth.  I have myself witnessed some extraordinary effects produced by lightning.  I remember that, not more than two years since, I had occasion to go out into the township of Douro to attend the sitting of the Council of which I was then a member, and I had, on my way, to pass through a small clearing occupied by an Irish settler, one James Lynch.