334 



BEAR. 



observed the difference of character between the 

 same watch dog in the chain and in a state of free- 

 dom, must feel convinced that confinement is not the 

 specific for softening the disposition of any animal ; 

 and the two bears in question were caged. Whether 

 they were " stirred up with the pole," as is usual in 

 the case of show bears, is not mentioned, neither is 

 it denied. 



These bears were taken in rather a southern lati- 

 tude among the Stony Mountains ; and they are 

 said to have been littered about the 1st of March, 

 1807 (which, by the way, shows that this species 

 produces later in the year than the brown bear). 

 They were so young that they could take only milk , 

 and in that state they were carried a long distance. 

 Pike's account of their conduct on the march, shows 

 both how they might have been tamed, and how they 

 were not : " I had a cage," says he, " prepared for 

 both, which was carried on a mule, lashed between 

 two packs ; but I always ordered them to be let out 

 the moment we halted, and not shut up again till we 

 were prepared to march. By this treatment they 

 became exceedingly docile when at liberty, following 

 my men like dogs through our camps, and the small 

 villages and forts where we halted. When well sup- 

 plied with sustenance, they would play like y*oung 

 puppies with each other and the soldiers ; but the 

 instant they were shut up and placed on the mule, 

 the became cross, as the jolting of the animal knocked 

 them against each other, and they were sometimes 

 left exposed to the scorching heat of a vertical sun for 

 a day without food or a drop of water, in which 

 case they would worry and tear each other, till nature 

 was exhausted, and they could neither fight nor 

 bawl any longer." 



The following is the account of their conduct in 

 the museum : " When first received they were 

 quite small, but speedily gave indications of that fero- 

 city for which this species is so remarkable. As they 

 increased in size they became exceedingly dangerous, 

 seizing and tearing to pieces every animal they could 

 lay hold of, and expressing extreme eagerness to get 

 at those accidentally brought within sight of their 

 cage, by grasping the iron bars with their paws and 

 shaking them violently, to the great terror of specta- 

 tors, who felt insecure while witnessing such displays 

 of their strength. In one instance, an unfortunate 

 monkey was walking over the top of their cage, when 

 the end of the chain which hung from his waist 

 dropped through within reach of the bears ; they 

 immediately seized it, dragged the screaming animal 

 through the narrow aperture, tore him limb from limb, 

 and devoured his mangled carcass almost instanta- 

 neously. At another time a small monkey thrust his 

 arm through an opening in the bear cage to reach 

 after some object ; one of them immediately seized 

 him, and, with a sudden jerk, tore the whole arm and 

 shoulder blade from the body, and devoured it before 

 any one could interfere. They were still cubs, and 

 very little more than half grown, when their ferocity 

 became so alarming as to excite continual apprehen- 

 sion lest they should escape, and they were killed in 

 order to prevent such an event." 



Upon comparing the account of the soldier, who 

 had no "story" to tell but simply the truth, with that 

 of the Museum describer, in regard to these the same 

 animals, it cannot fail to strike the reader that there 

 is a wonderful coincidence between these and the 

 accounts of similar parties respecting the common 



hyssna. Every one who knows anything about 

 domestic economy in the Dukhun, must be aware 

 that the domestication of the hyaena as a substitute 

 for the dog is a very common occurrence there ; and 

 the memory which the hyaena at the Zoological Gar- 

 dens retained of the kindness of colonel Sykes, after 

 the lapse of two years, and the apparent joy with 

 which it welcomed him though he gave it nothing, 

 are interesting traits in the animal economy. Yet 

 this same hyaena has, " time out of mind," been the 

 " ferocious and untameable" the very ultimate 

 example of unrelenting cruelty. 



Some of the habits of the bears and the hyaena are 

 similar : for instance, they both consume dead car- 

 casses ; but otherwise, the hyrena is by much the 

 more carnivorous animal of the two, especially in tlie 

 structure of its teeth ; and therefore the accounts of 

 the untameable disposition of the one animal are no 

 more deserving of rational credence than those ol 

 the other. 



We have no intention of pleading specially for the 

 grisly bear, or for any animal whatever ; but, though 

 it is nearly exploded among all who study natural 

 history, there is a great deal of the ridiculous exag- 

 geration introduced by the showmen, still current 

 in the country and in so far perpetuated by com- 

 pilers ; and this remaining delusion it becomes our 

 duty, writing as we do for the public, by every means 

 in our power to dispel. It is also our duty to men- 

 tion, for the sake of those who have not the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing animals in a state of nature, or in 

 that semi-freedom which they enjoy in zoological 

 gardens, that, in the pigeon holes of a travelling 

 caravan they see only the dwarfed or the emaciated 

 forms of the animals, and nothing whatever of their 

 natural dispositions. Indeed, if the gentlest mouth- 

 piece of the menagerie that ever told the terrors of 

 a tiger to the wondering rustics at a fair, were to get 

 only twelve months of the tenement and treatment 

 of his beast, he would be the more ferocious animal, 

 and therefore the better spectacle of the two. 



But while we must not judge of the character of 

 the powerful bear under notice from the museum 

 account, as little can we do it from the accounts of 

 the hunters; for if the one shows us an animal soured 

 and irritated by captivity, the other displays it with 

 all its formidable energies aroused in defence of its 

 life. Of these accounts by the hunters we shall, 

 however, give the substance of one instance from the 

 expedition of Lewis and Clark on the Missouri. 

 One evening, the men in one of the hindmost of the 

 canoes perceived a grisly bear lying on the open 

 ground about three hundred paces from the river ; 

 and six of them, good hunters, went to attack it. 

 They got within forty paces unperceived, when four 

 fired, all hitting, and two balls passing directly 

 through the lungs. The bear sprang up and ran 

 furiously at them with open mouth, upon which the 

 two hunters who had reserved their fire, gave it, 

 both hitting, and one breaking his shoulder blade, 

 which somewhat retarded his motions. But befure 

 they could reload, he came so close upon them thai 

 they were obliged to make directly for the river, and 

 before they reached it the bear was almost within 

 paw's length. Two jumped into the canoe, and the 

 other four, concealing themselves among the willows, 

 fired as fast as they could load. They struck him 

 several times ; but that only made him proceed more 

 furiously in the direction whence the wound came. 



