198 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



I was in California, experienced informants assured me that no 

 true grizzly bear was to be found east of the Pacific slope, and 

 that Lord Coke was the only Britisher who had ever killed a real 

 grizzly in California, There are numerous bears of three if not 

 four varieties in the Rocky Mountains, and these are frequently 

 termed grizzlies, as a misnomer ; but the true grizzly is far 

 superior in size, although similar in habits, and his weight varies 

 from 1200 to MOO Ibs. 



Mr. Lament, in his interesting work Yachting in ihf Arctic 

 Seas, gives the most accurate account of all Arctic animals that he 

 killed, and having the advantage of his own yacht, he was able to 

 weigh the various beasts, and thus afford the most valuable infor- 

 mation in detail. This is his account of a polar bear (Ursux 

 maritimm) which he himself killed : 



" He was so large and heavy that we had to fix the ice-anchor, 

 and drag him up with block and tackle, as if he hod been a 

 walrus. This was an enormous old male bear, and measured 

 upwards of 8 feet in length, almost as much in circumference, 

 and 4i feet at the shoulder; his fore paws were 34 inches in cir- 

 cumference, and had very long, sharp, and powerful nails ; his 

 hair was beautifully thick, long, and white, and hung several 

 inches over his feet. He was in very high condition, and pro- 

 duced nearly 400 Ibs. of fat ; his skin weighed upwards of 100 

 Ibs., and the entire carcase of the animal cannot have been less 

 than 1GOO Ibs." 



This weight is equivalent to a large-sized English cart-horse. 

 I have seen one of the skins procured by Mr. Lamont, and I can 

 readily appreciate his account of the weight. I have also seen a 

 skin of a grizzly bear killed at Alaska by Sir Thomas Hesketh ; this 

 was cured by Mr. Rowland Ward, who showed it to me at his 

 establishment, 160 Piccadilly, and it was very little inferior to the 

 skin of the polar bear. I quite believe the accounts I have 

 received in California are correct, and that the grizzly may some- 

 times exceed 1400 Ibs. in weight. There is a considerable 

 difference in size between the male and female, the former being 

 superior. Like all other animals, the mother is particularly 

 attached to her young, and when in company with them she is 

 more than ordinarily ferocious, as she appears to suspect every 

 stranger of some hostile intentions towards her offspring. 



The increase of population in many countries has resulted in 

 the destruction of all animals that were considered dangerous to 

 man ; thus the wolf and the bear have both disappeared from 

 Great Britain, and they have become scarce in France. 



