376 Wild Beasts 



earth think differently, however, about them. In the 

 folk-lore of Europe and Asia this creature is conspicuous. 

 The great hunters write of it in a respectful strain. No 

 man who ever stood before an enraged bear thought 

 lightly of its prowess. A host of well-known names 

 are appended to statements concerning destructive arc- 

 toids in the Scandinavian Mountains and the Pyrenees, in 

 the Himalayas and Caucasus, the highlands of Central 

 India, and the forests and plains north and south of " the 

 stony girdle of the world." 



There is every reason why this beast should be for- 

 midable wherever it has not encountered modern weapons ; 

 and that it is so its whole literature attests. Rich- 

 ardson's name ("Fauna Boreali Americana"), Ursiis fcrox, 

 translates his own experiences and those of native tribes. 

 Colonel Pollock ("Natural History Notes") asserts that 

 "in Assam bears are far more destructive to human life 

 than tigers," and more than one authoritative statement 

 to the same effect has been made concerning those of 

 India. It happens curiously that the ancient documents 

 of China preserve the descriptive title which has been con- 

 ferred upon the great bear of America. In Dr. Legge's 

 edition of the Chinese Classics, the Bamboo Books have a 

 note appended by some native scholiast to Part I., relating 

 to the reign of Hwang-te, in which his general Ying-lung, 

 while fighting against Ch'e-yew, is said to have been assisted 

 by "tigers, panthers, bears, and ^rzV/Zj/ {grizzly) bears." 



The grizzly is so difficult to kill that he has the reputa- 

 tion of being nearly invulnerable. It is quite true that 

 the species possesses great tenacity of life, and that in 



