242 ORDER V. 



and Hohhost of the Chopunish ; and, by hunters of 

 the west, familiarly called " Caleb." It differs in 

 outward appearance very little from the brown bear, 

 excepting that the colour is of a sepia-black, the back 

 being entirely grizzled with white, and the limbs 

 darkening into positive coal-black ; the muzzle is 

 more or less rust-coloured ; and the ears very hairy, 

 appear rather large. The most remarkable charac- 

 ter consists in the very great size of the claws, which, 

 on the fore paws, border on 6 inches in length, 

 and are not sufficiently curved for climbing ; hence, 

 the adult Grizzly Bear does not ascend trees. This 

 bear, if measurements may be credited, is the 

 largest of the genus ; Lewis and Clarke having 

 found one that was 9 feet from nose to tail, and 

 weighed 800 pounds. Of the eight or nine we 

 have seen, none exceeded a common brown bear, 

 nor approached in size the specimen we have 

 figured, nor one that was exhibited in Plymouth 

 some years since, which walked erect without a sup- 

 porting pole, arid, in this posture, was more than 

 seven feet high. But it is in the bulk of the limbs, 

 and the great girth and size of the head, that this 

 bear appears gigantic, and where these characters 

 are coupled with the ferocity and tenacity of life 

 which belong to it, we need not wonder at the 

 capricious characters that it evinces, nor at the 

 mysterious notions which the Indians, and even the 

 Anglo American hunters, entertain of it. Mr. 

 Cdtlin describes an instance where one of these 

 bears, a female, walked round him and his com- 



