BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA 375 



was not an ounce less than 500 Ibs., and probably weighed 

 more ; while there are from time to time black bear skins in 

 the warehouses of Mr. Boscowitz, the principal fur-dealer in 

 Victoria, which would measure nearly 9 ft. from end to end 

 (if allowance were made for the mask beyond the eyes), and 

 6 ft. from side to. side below the arms. 



In 1891 I measured in this store a black bear's skin which 

 did not seem unduly stretched, the length of which was, to the 

 best of my recollection, 8 ft. 6 ins. from eyes to tail, or 8 ft. 

 10 ins. as measured. 



Amongst the skins for sale by Messrs. C. M. Lampson & 

 Co., at their small summer sale, June 12, 1893, at which I was 

 told that the black bear skins were small, I measured one 

 skin 93 ins. from eyes to tail, and one of the employes of 

 the house assured me that a black bear skin measuring 8 ft. 

 6 ins. was not uncommon. 



Before leaving the subject of bears altogether, I should 

 like to refer to an extraordinary skin which I saw among 

 Mr. Boscowitz's consignments from the upper country last 

 year. In size this skin is considerably larger than the average 

 bear hide ; the colour of it is white, with a few straw-coloured 

 patches (little more than a few hairs in each) on the head and 

 about the rump. The paws and claws of the animal were attached 

 to the skin, and from the jaws and skin of the head I should 

 imagine that the beast had a long shallow head like a black 

 bears, though the skin is more like the skin of a Polar in 

 summer season, except that whereas other bear hides are of 

 hair, this is distinctly woolly, more like the fleece of a sheep 

 than the hide of a bear. 



I am informed that this skin was sent to Mr. Rowland 

 Ward's. The bear was killed on one of the inlets of the 

 north-west coast, and is the only one of the kind ever seen in 

 our British Columbia fur market. 



