MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 57 



" The hunters live well during the chase, on pro- 

 visions which they bring with them. They return 

 home with great pride and self-sufficiency, for to 

 kill a bear forms the character of a complete man. 

 They again give a great entertainment, and now 

 make a point to leave nothing. The feast is dedi- 

 cated to a certain genius, perhaps Gluttony, whose 

 resentment they dread, if they do not eat every 

 morsel, and even sup up the very melted grease in 

 which the meat was dressed. They sometimes eat 

 till they burst, or bring on themselves some violent 

 disorders. The first course is the greatest bear 

 they have killed, without even taking out the en- 

 trails or stripping off the skin, contenting themselves 

 with singeing it, as is practised with hogs. 



The Kamtschatkans, before their conversion to 

 Christianity, had almost similar superstitions re- 

 specting bears and other wild beasts. They entreat- 

 ed the bears and wolves not to hurt them in the 

 chase ; and whales and marine animals, not to over- 

 turn their boats. They never call the two former 

 by their proper names, but by that of Sipang, or 

 ill-luck. At present the Kamtschatkans kill the 

 bear and other wild beasts with guns; formerly 

 they had variety of inventions, such as filling the 

 entrance to its den with logs, and then digging 

 down upon the animal and destroying it with spears. 

 In Siberia, it is taken by making a trap-fall of a 

 great piece of timber, which drops and crushes it 

 to death ; or by forming a noose on a rope fastened 



