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down. On further examination I saw that there was a large 

 opening in the upper part, near which the smaller branches 

 were broken. From these marks, and from the additional 

 circumstance that there were no tracks in the snow, there 

 was reason to believe that a bear lay concealed in the tree. 

 On returning to the lodge I communicated my discovery ; 

 and it was agreed that all the family should go together in 

 the morning to assist in cutting down the tree, the girth of 

 which was not less than three fathoms. The women at 

 first opposed the undertaking, because our axes, being only 

 of a pound and a half weight, were not well adapted to so 

 heavy a labour; but the hope of finding a large bear, and 

 obtaining from its fat a great quantity of oil, an article at 

 the time much wanted, at length prevailed. Accordingly, 

 iu the morning we surrounded the tree, both men and 

 women, as many at a time as could conveniently work at it ; 

 and there we toiled like beavers till the sun went down. 

 This day's work carried us about half-way through the 

 trunk ; and the next morning we renewed the attack, con- 

 tinuing it till about two o'clock in the afternoon, when the 

 tree fell to the ground. For a few minutes everything re- 

 mained quiet, and I feared that all our expectations would 

 be disappointed ; but as I advanced to the opening there 

 came out, to the great satisfaction of all our party, a bear of 

 extraordinary size, which I shot. The bear being dead all 

 my assistants approached, and all, but particularly my old 

 mother (as I was wont to call her), took the head in their 

 hands, stroking and kissing it several times ; begging a 

 thousand pardons for takkig away her life; calling her 

 their relation and grandmother ; and requesting her not to 

 lay the fault upon them, since it was truly an Englishman 

 that had put her to death. This ceremony was not of long 

 duration, and if it was I that killed their grandmother, they 

 were not themselves behindhand in what remained to be 

 performed. The skin being taken off we found the fat in 

 several places six inches deep. This, being divided into 

 two parts, loaded two persons ; and the flesh parts were as 

 much as four persons could carry. In all, the carcass must 

 have exceeded five cwt. As soon as we reached the lodge, 

 the bear's head was adorned with all the trinkets in the 

 possession of the family, such as silver arm-bands, and 

 wri>t-bands, and belts of wampum ; and then laid upon a 

 scalMd set up for its reception within the lodge. Near the 

 nose was placed a large quantity of tobacco. The next 

 morning no sooner appeared than preparations were made 

 for a feast to the manes. The lodge was cleaned and swept ; 

 and the head of the hear lifted up, and a new Stroud blanket 

 which had never been used before spread under it. The 

 pipes were now lit : and Wawatam blew tobacco-smoke into 

 the nostrils of the bear, telling me to do the same, and thus 

 appease the anger of the bear on account of my having 

 killed her. I endeavoured to persuade my benefactor and 

 friendly adviser that she no longer had any life, and assured 

 him that I was under no apprehension from her displeasure ; 

 but the first proposition obtained no credit, and the second 

 gave but little satisfaction. At length the feast being 

 ready, Wawatam mode a speech resembling, in many 

 things, his address to the manes of his relations and de- 

 parted companions ; but having this peculiarity, that he here 

 deplored the necessity under which men laboured thus to 

 destroy their friends. He represented, however, that the 

 misfortune was unavoidable, since without doing BO they 

 could by no means subsist. The speech ended, we all ate 

 heartily of the bear's tte*h ; and even the head itself, after 

 remaining three days on the scaffold, was put into the 

 kettle. It is only the female bear that makes her winter 

 lodging in the upper parts of trees, a practice by which her 

 young are secured from the attacks of wolves and other 

 animals. She brings forth in the winter season, and re- 

 mains in her lodge till the cubs have gained some strength. 

 The male always lodges in the ground, under the roots of 

 trees. He takes to his habitation as soon as the snow 

 falls, and remains there till it baa disappeared. The In- 

 dians remark that the bear comes out in the spring with 

 the name fat which he carries in in the autumn ; but after 

 tba exercise of only a few days becomes lean. Except- 

 ing for a short part of the season the male lives constantly 

 alone.' 



The following are considered to be varieties of this spe- 

 cies, which is almost equal to the polar bear in its powers of 

 swimming, and is said to be very fond of fish : 



The Cinnamon Rear, which, with the black variety, may 

 be seen in the Zoological Garden at the Regent's Park. 



The Yellow Bear of Carolina, a specimen of which was 

 in the Tower of London in 1 788, and is figured by Catton. 



The Ours Gulaire of Geoffroy, with a white throat. The 

 white markings on the throat of Geoffrey's bear are, perhaps, 

 as Dr. Richardson observes, analogous to the white collar 

 which many of the European brown bears exhibit when 

 young ; and the Doctor cites Cartwright to show that the 

 cubs of the black bear on the Labrador coast are often 

 marked with white rings round the neck ; and Pennant, to 

 prove the same as to the bears of Hudson's Bay. An Ame- 

 rican black bear was kept for some time in the Tower of 

 London in the same den with a hysena. They agreed very 

 well together except at meals, when the hytena, though 

 much the smallest, was generally master ; ' and the bear,' 

 says Mr. Bennett, ' would moan most piteously, and in a 

 tone somewhat resembling the bleating of a sheep, while 

 his companion quietly consumed the remainder of his 

 dinner.' 



The Spectacled Bear, Ursus Ornatus of F. Cuvier, inha- 

 bits the Cordilleras of the Andes in Chili. Its fur is smooth, 

 shining, and black, with the following exceptions : Its short 

 muzzle is of a dirty yellow, or buff colour, and there are two 

 semicircular marks of the same hue, reminding the ob- 

 server of a pair of spectacles above the eyes ; the under 

 parts of the throat and neck and the upper part of the breast 

 are whitish. This species, which may be now seen at the 

 Garden of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, is 

 about three feet and a half in length. 



Sir R. Ker Porter describes a bear brought from the 

 Andes and living at Caracas in 1 833 somewhat differing in 

 its markings from the ordinary individual* of Ursus orna- 

 tus ; but it is probably only a variety. (See Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society, part i. p. 114.) 



[UMUI orDitus.] 



Before wo proceed to tho consideration of the true grizzly 

 bear, we must notice the 



Barren-ground Bear. This, which appears to be the 

 grizzly be;ir of Hearne, aftd the brown bear, variety 8, 

 grizzly of Pennant, was stated by Dr. Richardson to be the 

 brown variety of Ursus Americanus ; but, in the Fauna 

 Boreali-Amerir-ana, he corrects himself, and seems in- 

 clined to consider it a variety of the brown bear (Ursus 

 Arctoe), 



' From the inquiries I made,' writes the Doctor in the 

 last-mentioned work, ' throughout the woody country from 

 Lake Superior to Great Slave Lake, being 1 of latitude, 

 I learnt that the natives of those districts are acquainted 

 with only two species of land bear, viz., the common black 

 bear, including the cinnamon-coloured and other varieties, 

 and the grisly bear, which is confined to the lofty chain of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and the extensive plains that skirt 

 their bases. The barren lands, however, lying to the north- 

 ward and eastward of Great Slave Lake, and extending to 

 the Arctic Sea, are frequented by a species of bear which 

 differs from the American black bear in its greater size, 

 profile, physiognomy, larger soles, and tail ; and from the 

 grisly bear, also, in colour, and the comparative smallness 



