8 URSID.E. 



appearance, especially when in contrast with the snow, 

 than a set of " sleigh-robes " of black-bear skin, trimmed 

 with scarlet. The summer hides are cut by the Indians 

 into cords, which are used for a variety of purposes ; and 

 the claws are highly valued as necklaces. The flesh, which 

 is much eaten by these tribes, is white, devoid of flavour, 

 and rather greasy than fat. Mr. Ross, of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company's Service, alluding to the extensive use of 

 the fat as a pomatum, does not coincide with those who 

 esteem it as a hair renovator, but on the contrary, says 

 that when used pure, it is more likely to cause the hair 

 to split and fall out. 



The principal food of the bear consists of roots, 

 wild fruit, acorns, nuts, masts, and berries of different 

 kinds, chiefly that called the " blueberry ;" and it is also 

 in the habit of eating various kinds of insects. Though 

 less carnivorous than vegetarian, it will, when pressed 

 by hunger, occasionally carry off a young lamb or pig from 

 outlying farms, but commits more serious depredation on 

 the fields of young maize, thereby bringing on itself the 

 wrath of the settler, by whom it is always remorselessly 

 hunted down. The Indians are more superstitious in this 

 respect, for as Sir John Richardson* says, " Many of the 

 native tribes of North America will not join the chase till 



* Fauna Borealis Americana. 



