148 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



caught the man in his arms and they rolled 

 in the river together. The poor man could 

 not get away. When we recovered his body 

 far down the river next day, the bear still 

 held him in her arms. She was a long, 

 slim cinnamon, said to be the most savage 

 fighter in that region. 



All the bear of the far north seem to me 

 to have longer bodies and shorter legs than 

 in other lands. The black bear (there are 

 three kinds of them) are bow-legged, I 

 think; at least they "toe in," walk as an 

 Indian walks, and even step one foot over 

 the other when taking their time on the 

 trail. We cultivated the acquaintance of 

 a black bear for some months, on the Klon 

 dike, in the winter of ? 97-'98, and had a 

 good chance to learn his habits. He was a 

 persistent robber and very cunning. He 

 would eat anything he could get, which 

 was not much, of course, and when he 

 could not get anything thrown to him from 

 a door he would go and tear down a stump 

 and eat ants. I don't know why he 



