158 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



for the purpose of attack ; but the fact that it is able to 

 walk upon them, and that it frequently sits up on its 

 haunches, and uses its fore paws as hands either for the 

 purpose of putting food to its mouth, scratching itself, or 

 rubbing its head, gives it a very human appearance. If 

 wounded, too, it will sit up, and place its paws over the 

 wound just as a man will do. 



The American Indians held the bear in very high re- 

 spect. This did not, indeed, prevent them from hunting 

 it, but, before feasting on its flesh, they would always make a 

 speech, begging its pardon, and deprecating its anger, upon 

 the ground that they did not kill it from illwill, but simply 

 from necessity. The bear dance, in which those engaged 

 in it imitated the movements of the animal, was a religious 

 ceremony, and generally the bear was regarded with respect 

 far beyond that paid to any other animal. It is unfortunate 

 for the bear that it did not from the first cultivate its 

 power of walking upon its hind legs, for there can be no 

 doubt that had it done so it would have stood much 

 higher in the esteem of man. Valuing himself somewhat 

 highly, man is naturally disposed to value animals that 

 approach most nearly to him. The monkey is deified in 

 some parts of India, and the bear might have stood in as 

 high a position, had it but accustomed itself habitually to 

 walk upright. It is true that it has none of the sprightliness 

 of the monkey, but its gravity, its evidently good intentions, 

 and the somewhat rustic awkwardness of its gait, would 

 certainly seem to mark it as intended to be a more genial 

 and friendly companion to man than the skittish and erratic 

 monkey. The polar bear and the North American grizzly, 

 the latter fast approaching extinction, come under a different 



