NATURAL. HISTORY OF THE 71 



seen but extensive plains of what is called natural meadow, 

 and here and there, upon the borders of the rivers and creeks, 

 a few cotton wood (populus deltoide), hickory (juglans), and 

 shrub oak (qucrcus). Here it is that the white bear (ursus arctos?) 

 is found; to give you a just description of this animal would re- 

 quire more knowledge of natural history than I possess. I shall 

 therefore only repeat to you, in general, what the most intel- 

 ligent and best informed traders and hunters have informed 

 me upon this subject. The white bear, as it is here called, is 

 found of all colours from a brown to almost a perfect white; 

 and, to use the hunters expression, differs as much in its colour 

 as the different varieties of dogs. It is much taller and longer 

 than the common bear; the belly is more lank, and the ab- 

 domen drawn up like that of a horse kept for the course. It 

 runs much swifter, and its head and claws are much larger, 

 and longer in proportion than the common bear. It feeds 

 principally upon animal food, and is considered by the sava- 

 ges as their most dangerous enemy. It attacks universally; 

 kills, and devours human flesh. It is not in the above men- 

 tioned country alone that this animal is found; it is common 

 much farther to the north and west, and occupies a wide and 

 extensive range, upon all the waters that form the sources of. 

 the Missouri. 



I can verify, in part, the truth of the above account of the 

 white bear, particularly as to its size and external appearance. 

 My friend the Lieutenant Governor of the upper Louisiana 

 and commandant of Saint Louis, Mr. Dehault Delassus, has 

 now in his possession one of these bears of about six months old. 

 Its colour is that of a pale orange approaching to white, with 

 a streak of dark brown along the back, and on the outside of 

 the thighs. It is taller and longer than common bears of its age, 

 notwithstanding the manner in which it has been raised, and 

 its head and claws are much larger. It has been constantly 

 fed upon boiled indian corn, and pains have been taken to 

 render it as docile and good naturcd as possible. It has not 

 as yet shewn any symptoms of ferocity, but suffers its keeper 

 to beat and handle it as he pleases. In general it exhibits, in 

 its manners, nearly the same character with that of the com- 

 mon bear. This cub, with another of a different family and 



