THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 323 



were well timbered, the bears could scarcely find anything to eat, and 

 had to live on roots, bark, and whatever game they could lay their paws 

 on. Since the wood has been cleared off, shrubs and bushes ha\'e grown 

 thickly, intermingled with briers and trailing vines, which furnish berries 

 and other food, capable of sustaining considerable numbers. 



Although the white hunters chase and kill the bear without any 

 remorse of conscience, the copper-colored races are so impressed with 

 the intellectual powers of this cunning and dangerous animal, that they 

 endeavor to appease the manes of a slaughtered bear, or Musquaw, as 

 they call it, with various singular arid time-honored ceremonies. The 

 head of the slain animal is decorated with every procurable trinket, and 

 is deposited 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 hopes that his conduct has been, on the whole, satisfactorr 

 to the dead Musquaw and its relations. 



This curious custom is the more remarkable, as it bears a close analojrv 

 to the belief of the Scandinavians, who are little less fastidious in their 

 conduct towards the bear. No true Norwegian will ever speak of a 

 bear as a bear, but prefers to mention it as " the old man with the fur 

 cloak ; " or, more tersely and poetically, the " Disturber." 



The Cinnamon Bear, Ursus cinnamonens, is a variety of the Black 

 Bear ; its hair is rather longer and softer, and its color a dark chestnut 

 with Durple shades. 



THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 



The Grizzly Bear, Ursus fcrox (Plate XXIII), is the most terrible 

 animal on this continent, the largest of American Carnivora. It is found 

 over all North-western America, most abundantly on the slopes of the 

 Rocky Mountains. In the fall it comes down from its usual dwelling 

 in the mountains, and hunts for berries, grapes, and wild fruit in the 

 plains. General Dodge says the Grizzly is very shy, and takes to cover 

 at the slightest suspicious circumstance, always running away if it can, 

 and never attacking except when cornered or wounded. In that case 

 its assault is furious, and quite regardless of the number of its foes, and 



