noise whereof the beare ariseth, and in his fearefull rage runneth too and fro as if he sawe fire: the young men, armed, make unto him, the beare, looking round about, taketh the plainest way toward the rope hung full of feathers, which, being stirred, and haled by those that holde it, maketh the beare much affraid with the ratling and hissing thereof, and so flying from that side halfe mad, runneth into the nets, where the keepers entrap him so cunningly, that he seldome escapeth.
“When a Beare is set upon by an armed man, he standeth upright, and taketh the man betwixt his forefeet, but he, being covered all over with yron plates can receive no harm, and then may easily, with a sharpe knife or dagger pierce thorough the heart of the beast.
“If a shee beare having young ones be hunted, shee driveth her Whelpes before her, untill they be wearied, and then, if she be not prevented, she climbeth uppon a tree, carrying one of her young in her mouth, and the other on her backe. A Beare will not willingly fight with a man, but, being hurt by a man, he gnasheth his teeth, and licketh his forefeete, and it is reported by an Ambassador of Poland, that when the Sarmatians finde a beare, they inclose the whole Wood by a multitude of people standing not above a cubit one from another; then cut they downe the outmost trees, so that they raise a Wall of wood to hemme in the Beares; this being effected, they raise the Beare, having certaine forkes in their hands, made for that purpose, and, when the Beare approacheth, they, (with those forkes) fall upon him, one keeping his head, another one leg, other his body, and so, with force, muzzle him and tie his legges, leading him away. The Rhætians use this policy to take Wolves and Beares; they raise up great posts, and crosse them
with a long beame laded with heavy weightes, unto the which beame they fasten a corde with meat therein, whereunto the beast comming, and biting at the meat, pulleth downe the beame upon her owne pate.
“The inhabitants of Helvetia hunt them with mastiffe Dogges, because they should not kill their cattell left at large in the fielde in the day time; They likewise shoote them with gunnes, giving a good summe of money to them that can bring them a slaine beare. The Sarmatians use to take Beares by this sleight; under those trees wherein bees breed, they plant a great many of sharpe pointed stakes, putting one hard into the hole wherein the bees go in and out, whereunto the Beare climbing, and comming to pull it forth, to the end that she may come to the hony, and being angry that the stake sticketh so fast in the hole, with violence plucketh it foorth with both her fore feet, whereby she looseth her holde, and falleth downe upon the picked stakes, whereupon she dieth, if they that watch for her come not to take her off. There was reported by Demetrius, Ambassador at Rome, from the King of Musco, that a neighbor of his, going to seek hony, fell into a hollow tree, up to the brest in hony, where he lay two days, being not heard by any man to complain; at length came a great Beare to this hony, and, putting his head into the tree, the poore man tooke hold thereof, whereat, the Beare, suddenly affrighted, drew the man out of that deadly danger, and so ranne away for feare of a worse creature.
“But, if there be no tree wherein Bees doe breed neere to the place where the Beare abideth, then they use to annoint some hollow place of a tree with hony, whereinto Bees will enter and make hony combes, and when the Beare findeth them, she is killed as aforesaide. In
Norway they use to saw the tree almost asunder, so that when the beast climbeth it, she falleth downe upon piked stakes laid underneath to kill her; and some make a hollow place in a tree, wherein they put a great pot of water, having annointed it with hony, at the bottome wherof are fastened certaine hookes bending downeward, leaving an easie passage for the beare to thrust in her head to get the honie, but impossible to pull it foorth againe alone, because the hookes take holde on her skinne; this pot they binde fast to a tree, whereby the Beare is taken alive and blinde folded, and though her strength breake the corde or chaine wherewith the pot is fastened, yet can shee not escape or hurt any bodie in the taking, by reason her head is fastened in the pot.
“To conclude, other make ditches or pits under Apple trees, laying upon their mouth rotten stickes, which they cover with earth, and strawe uppon it herbes, and when the beare commeth to the Apple tree, she falleth into the pit and is taken.
“The herbe Wolfebaine or Liberdine is poison to Foxes, Wolves, Dogs, and Beares, and to all beasts that are littered blind, as the Alpine Rhætians affirme. There is one kinde of this called Cyclamine, which the Valdensians call Tora, and with the juice thereof they poison their darts, whereof I have credibly received this story; That a certain Valdensian, seeing a wilde beare, having a dart poysond heerewith, did cast it at the beare, being farre from him, and lightly wounded her, it being no sooner done, but the beare ran to and fro in a wonderful perplexitie through the woods, unto a verie sharpe cliffe of a rocke, where the man saw her draw her last breath, as soon as the poison entered to her hart, as he afterward found by opening of her bodie. The like is
reported of henbane, another herb. But there is a certaine blacke fish in Armenia full of poison, with the pouder whereof they poison figs, and cast them in those places where wilde beastes are most plentifull, which they eat, and so are killed.