398 BEAL’S-GREASE.” 
The flesh of the Bear is held in high esteem among the colonists and native hunters, 
and when properly prepared is considered a great delicacy by the denizens of civilized 
localities. The hams, when cured after the approved recipe, are greatly esteemed by 
epicures. The Brown Bear of Europe is also famed for the excellent quality of the meat 
which it furnishes. 
The fat of the Bear is, as is well known, considered as an infallible specific for 
increasing the growth of the hair and promoting its gloss, and is therefore a valuable 
article of commerce. The only portion of the fat that is legitimately employed for this 
purpose is the hard white fat which is found in the interior of the body. As might be 
expected rrom the enormous amount of titular “ Bear’s-grease” which is annually consumed, 
even in England, but a very small proportion of the substance which is called by that name 
has ever formed part of a Bear's person. The pig steps in to make good the deficiency, 
and the greater portion of the material which is sold under the name of Bear’s-grease, is 
in reality nothing more or less than hog’s-lard, coloured and scented in order to charm 
the eye and nostrils of the purchaser. There is yet another use to which the fat of 
the Bear is put, which will be presently mentioned. 
The chase of this Bear is an extremely dangerous. one, and there are but very few 
Bear-hunters, however dexterous they may be, who do not in the end suceumb to the 
claws and teeth of one of these powerful animals. Although it is naturally a very quiet 
and retiring creature, keeping itself aloof from mankind, and never venturing near his 
haunts except when incited by the pangs of fierce hunger, it is a truly furious beast 
when hemmed in by its antagonists, and all hope of escape cut off. Seated erect, with 
its eyeballs darting fury, its ears laid closely upon its head, its tongue lolling out of its 
mouth, and every gesture elowing with fierce energy, it presents a sight that is sufficient 
to umierve any but an experienced hunter, who has learned by long practice to preserve a 
cool demeanour under the most exciting circumstances. Horses are almost useless at 
such a juncture, for unless they have been most carefully trained to the task, they are 
seized with such mental terror at the sight and scent of the infuriate animal that they 
give way to their frantic fears, and become wholly unmanageable by their rider. As the 
Bear stands, or rather sits at bay, it deals such terrible and rapid blows with its ready 
paws that it strikes down the attacking dogs as if they were so many rabbits, and ever 
and anon makes a furious charge at its enemies. Nothing but a rifle-ball seems to check 
the creature when it is wrought up to this pitch of fury, for even the severest wounds 
from a knife, seem, unless they reach the heart, to have only the effect of exciting the 
animal to more furious rage. 
The Musquaw has a curious habit of treading frequently in the same path, so that 
after a little time it makes out for itself certain roads, which are easily detected by the 
practised eye of the hunter, and often lead to the destruction of the animal which 
trod them. 
During the month of June the Bears are very thin, and their flesh is considered to be 
of no value whatever; so that they enjoy a short period of unmolested ease. As they 
are especially fierce at this time of the year, the hunters have a double reason for keeping 
aloof from the animals which they persecute with a deadly pertinacity throughout the 
other portions of the year. Their peculiar ferocity at this time is attributable to the fact 
that the male Bears are engaged in seeking their mates, and when it happens, as is often 
the case among wild animals, that two or more males take a fancy to the same female, 
they fight for the desired prize with unrelenting fury. 
Although the white hunters chase and kill the Bear without any remorse of 
conscience, the copper-coloured races are so impressed with the intellectual powers 
of this cunning and dangerous animal, that they endeayour to appease the manes of 
a slaughtered Bear with various singular and time-honoured ceremonies. The head of the 
slain animal is decorated with every procurable trinket, and is then laid ceremoniously 
upon a new blanket. Tobacco-smoke is then solemnly blown into the nostrils of 
the severed head by the successful hunter, and a deprecatory speech is made, in which the 
orator extols the courage of the defeated animal, pays a few supplementary compliments 
to its still living relations, regrets the necessity for its destruction, and expresses his 
