c sl) LETTER XXXIV., 



And well cured, are by some esteemed not inferior to 

 bacon. Its skin, however, is the most useful part, as 

 it is made into coarse furs, collars for do^s, horse 

 trappings, and divers other articles. Its hair is aiso 

 "used for making painters' brushes, so that the, cjitferent 

 parts of this little animal are convertible to a variety 

 of purposes, and serve to shew tho- comprehensive 

 plan and beneficial designs of the Author of Nature... 

 With every sentiment of affection, 

 I am, dear Sir, 



Your's, &G. 



LETTER XXXIV. 



"There through the pinv forest half absorpf, 

 Rough tenant of the shades, the shapeless bear, 

 With dandling ice alf horrid, stalks forlorn : 

 J^ow pacM, find sourer as the btorfns increase, 

 He makes his bed beneath th' inclement drift;. 

 And with item patience, scorning weak complaint 

 Hardens his heart against assailing, want. 



THOMSON, 

 DEAR SIR, 



I x SHALL, in this epistle, entertain you with a view 

 ef a surly and formidable race of auimdls, which, _ 

 however "arranged by systematic writers, evidently:, 

 constitute a distinct species, being evidently distin- 

 guished both by their exterior conformation, and 

 many of their propensities and habits, from all other 

 quadrupeds of the carnivorous class. 



THE BT:AR 



is mammal generally known, and yet various differ- 

 ences and contradictions exist among the writers of 

 natural history concerning this subject, which can 

 have origiiiuted onlvxfrom the circumstance of not 

 rightly (a; u^uishitt the different species. 



The three principal varieties of the bear kind, are 

 the brown, the blac^ arid .the white, or great polar 

 bear: the first is an inhabitant of almost every cli- 

 ; the black bf.r is chiefly fouiid in the extensive. 



