THE GHIZZLY BEAR. 



produces a monster indeed; but size, in such cases, would 

 depend on circumstances more than on any peculiarity of 

 breed. In the same way, on the plains, to the east of the 

 mountains, large Bears have sometimes been found; but, at 

 present, I think there is little doubt that the loneliest parts 

 of the central chain are the best places to find Bears of a 

 considerable size. 



The sportsman often notices claw-marks of Bears on trees, 

 as he is riding by, as high, or almost as high, as his head, 

 and, thoughtlessly, he is apt to guess at the presence of an 

 immense animal who can stretch himself to such a point on 

 the tree-trunk. When "Ephraim" first comes out in the 

 spring, he always, as hunters say, measures his winter 

 growth and rubs his claws down a bit on some big, rough 

 pine's side. But when this takes place, he is usually 

 standing on from three to five feet of snow, which, by the 

 time the hunter gets there, has melted away, and thus 

 several feet have got to be taken off that Bear's height. 



If what I have here said seems heretical to some of 

 my readers, as to the Grizzly's size, I fear what I have to 

 add, as to his ferocity, will also meet with a doubtful 

 acceptance. There can be no doubt that constant contact 

 with white men, armed with modern weapons, has wrought 

 a change in the nature offeree naturce. In India, the Tiger 

 no longer charges as he used to charge in Captain Rice's 

 thrilling book. Sometimes he charges still, but more often 

 turns tail. The instinctive dread, born, no doubt, of bitter 

 experiences, has descended from parent to child, and he is 

 no longer the fearless savage that earlier accounts declare 

 him to have been. So with the Grizzly; the first white men 

 he met were armed with smooth-bores arid flint-locks 

 inadequate weapons with which to deal with him. For fifty 

 years, there was no great change in the weaponing of the 

 hunter. He carried, as a rule, a muzzle-loading rifle of small 

 caliber, using a light charge of powder; and as fur was 

 plentiful in the country, and the Grizzly's pelt was worth 

 little or nothing, and was difficult to pack, Ephraim was 

 left severely alone. The miners, too, and early explorers 



