Z^t <Btt35f J 



amine, to gather, and to press them he was doing 

 the unusual. He thus attracted the attention of 

 numerous grizzlies, who even came close to watch 

 him. They showed no inclination to attack. Bears 

 are "chock-full of curiosity" and will sometimes 

 forget to eat in trying to understand at once the 

 new or the unusual. 



Lewis and Clark tell of a bear on a sand-bar who 

 showed interest in their boat as it passed. He 

 raised himself on hind feet and looked after them, 

 and then plunged into the river and swam toward 

 the boat. This novel outfit should have attracted 

 the attention of any living thing, and a curious 

 grizzly must have been almost overcome with won- 

 der. Yet the explorers erroneously assumed that 

 this intense curiosity and consequent attempt for 

 closer inspection was evidence of ferocity. During 

 the first fifty years of the white man's contact with 

 the grizzly, the bear frequently came close to a 

 man or a camp for a better look ; most frontiersmen 

 thought this near approach was ferocity in the 

 bear. Often the bear was greeted with bullets, and 

 in due time he learned to satisfy his curiosity by 

 stealth instead of by direct approach. But inquisi- 

 tive he still is. 



176 



