256 CURIOUS NOTION. 



bear or the wolf, I can well understand that he at times proves a 

 formidable antagonist ; for, independently of his heels (which 

 with management may perhaps be avoided), his fore legs are 

 most destructive weapons. About two years ago a horse 

 thus attacked a valuable pointer of mine a manoeuvre pos- 

 sibly learnt in his combats with wolves in the most savage 

 manner. No dancing-master could have brought his legs 

 into play with more agility; and it* was only by a miracle 

 that the poor dog escaped destruction. 



In parts of Scandinavia the curious notion prevails, that 

 though bears, if unmolested, generally flee at the sight of 

 man, they will always attack pregnant women, " whose con- 

 dition," Bishop Pontoppidan tells us, " they know by scent 

 or by instinct ; and with all their might will strive to get the 

 foetus, which to them is a delicious morsel, if it happens 

 to be a male. A certain clergyman, that related this to 

 me, would not believe it himself, till he saw an experiment 

 with a young and tame bear, which he had chained in his 

 yard, and which until then had not been guilty of any mis- 

 chief; but one time leading a woman with child almost up 

 to him, he began to make an uncommon noise he roared 

 and tore about him so, that they were obliged to shoot him 

 instantly. A clergyman's wife also, in Sogne-fjord, related 

 to me the danger that her husband found her in, being 

 also big with child. Returning home on a summer's even- 

 ing, he saw a bear trying, and taking all the pains he could, 

 to break open the door of his wife's bed-chamber, where 

 she was lying in the greatest anguish, hearing the bear 

 roaring and jumping up at the windows, which fortunately 

 were too high from the ground for him. From this, it is to 

 be observed, that if one of those shepherdesses, or Giate-Tous, 



