THE BEAR. 261 



trary to their usual custom, they eat with great modera- 

 tion. The master of the feast touches nothing ; but is em- 

 ployed in relating to the guests ancient tales of feats in 

 former chases ; and fresh invocations to the spirits of the 

 deceased bears conclude the whole. 



" They then sally forth, equipped as if for war, and 

 painted black ; and they proceed on their way in a direct 

 line, not allowing rivers, marshes, or any other impedi- 

 ment, to stop their course, and driving before them all the 

 beasts they find. When they arrive at the hunting ground, 

 they surround as large a space as they can ;. and then con- 

 tract their circle, searching at the same time every hollow 

 tree, and every place capable of being the retreat of a 

 bear ; and they continue the same practice till the chase 

 is finished. 



"As soon as the bear is killed, a hunter puts into his 

 mouth a lighted pipe of tobacco, and blowing into it, fills 

 the throat with the smoke, conjuring the spirit of the animal 

 not to resent what they are about to do to its bod}% or to 

 render their future chases unsuccessful. As the beast 

 makes no reply, they cut out the string of the tongue, and 

 throw it into the fire. If it crackle and shrivel up (which 

 it is almost sure to do,) they accept this as a good omen ; 

 if not, they consider that the spirit of the beast is not ap- 

 peased, and that the chase of the next year will be un- 

 fortunate." 



In the Tower Menagerie of London, there is a very tame 

 and playful American bear, which was presented to it in 

 1824. He was originally in the same den with the hyena, 

 and, except at feeding times, was on good terms with his 

 companion. A piece of meat, however, would occasion- 

 ally produce a temporary dissension between them ; in 

 which the hyaena, though the smallest of the two, had 

 usually the upper hand. On such occasions, the defeated 

 bear would moan most piteously, in a tone somewhat like 



