346 



A JOURNEY TO THE 



The Brown 

 Bear. 



The Wolve- 

 rene. 



porker, or a roasting pig. The same may be said of swans 

 (the skins of which the Company have lately made an article 

 of trade) ; otherwise thousands of their skins might be brought 

 to market annually, by the Indians that trade with the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company's servants at the different settlements 

 about the Bay. 



Brown Bears ^ are, I believe, never found in the North- 

 Indian territories: but I saw the skin of an enormous [372] 

 grizzled Bear at the tents of the Esquimaux at the Copper 

 River ; ^ and many of them are said to breed not very remote 

 from that part. 



The Wolverene^ is common in the Northern regions, 

 as far North as the Copper River, and perhaps farther. They 

 are equally the inhabitants of woods and barren grounds ; for 

 the Esquimaux to the North of Churchill kill many of them 

 when their skins are in excellent season : a proof of their 

 being capable of braving the severest cold. They are very 

 slow in their pace, but their wonderful sagacity, strength, and 

 acute scent, make ample amends for that defect ; for they are 

 seldom killed at any season when they do not prove very fat : 

 a great proof of their being excellent providers. With respect 

 to the fierceness of this animal which some assert, I can say 

 little, but I know them to be beasts of great courage and 

 resolution, for I once saw one of them take possession of 

 a deer that an Indian had killed, and though the Indian 

 advanced within twenty yards, he would not relinquish his 



occasions the Indians oblige their wives who have milk in their breasts to suckle 

 them. And one of the Company's servants, whose name is Isaac Batt, willing 

 to be as great a brute as his Indian companions, absolutely forced one of his 

 wives, who had recently lost her infant, to suckle a young Bear. 



[' By brown bears, Hearne probably refers to the brown or cinnamon phase 

 of the black bear. This colour phase, which is often spoken of as if constitut- 

 ing a distinct species, is rare near the northern border of the range of the animal.] 



[* [/rsus ric/iardson I Sv/ainson, See tz«/^, p. i8i.] 



[' Gu/o luscus (Linn.). This powerful freebooter ranges north to the 

 extremity of the continent, and has been detected in a few instances on 

 the islands of the Arctic Sea.] 



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