THE GRIZZLY BEAK. 209 



extraordinary divinatiou which, ^Yheu cultivated to 

 the utmost extent, compels the " pale-face" to admit 

 that the Red Skin is his superior in the American 

 prairie ; for the best hunter is he who can -follow 

 the most difficult trace in the readiest manner, 

 and who leaves no print where he places his own 

 foot. 



The trappers who hunt the grizzly bear have 

 nothing but their power of vision to guide them, 

 but that sense is even more unerring than the sense 

 of smell in the dog. The print of a bear's paw 

 upon the leaves, the broken twigs and branches, the 

 form where it has laid down, are more readily dis- 

 covered than the animal itself; and the experienced 

 trapper can describe at once the animal he is fol- 

 lowing, its sex, weight, and age. Sometimes he 

 will abandon the track after following it up for 

 some time, on discovering that it is only a small 

 bear ; sometimes because it is a she bear with cubs ; 

 sometimes because it is too fat, and he knows, 

 therefore, that its Hesh must be in bad condition. 

 These points distinguish the true hunter from the 

 mere sportsman. The former can run down his 

 game without any assistance, whilst the latter must 

 have dogs and all the best apparatus of the chase. 



The means employed in America for destroying 

 the grizzly bears are almost as numerous as the 

 bears themselves. These creatures cannot all be 

 attacked by a uniform process, and this is why they 



