292 THE GRIZZLY DESCRIBED. 



eastward of the mountains. It is singular that these 

 animals have been observed in the sterile deserts of 

 interior Labrador, on the east of Hudson Bay, while 

 in the vast intermediate space none are found until 

 within some three or four hundred miles of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Mr. John Maclean, author of " Twenty -five Years in 

 the Hudson Bay Company's Service," states that he 

 undoubtedly received the hides of grizzly bears from 

 the Indian hunters of Labrador, and notes the fact as a 

 curious one. 



The grizzly is a gigantic animal, and attains his 

 fullest size towards the southern limits of his range. 

 In general, however, he may be stated to weigh some 

 eight hundred pounds, and in length he attains from 

 eight and a half to ten feet. His massive fore arms are 

 furnished with terrible claws, six inches long, which 

 cut like chisels when the monster makes a blow with 

 them. The strength of this bear is tremendous. With 

 a stroke of his ponderous paw he will disable a buffalo 

 bull, and then drag away the carcass with almost as 

 much ease as a cat can carry a rat. A noted hunter 

 named Dougharty once shot a huge bison, and having 

 left the carcass in search of aid to cut it up, on his 

 return was astonished to find that it had been removed 

 during his absence ! He had some difficulty in follow- 

 ing the trail; but at length he discovered the body 

 of the bison in a deep grave, excavated by a grizzly 

 which had abstracted the carcass. Unlike the black 



