IN THE FAR WEST. Ci 



water when necessary, and seems to think little of swimming' 

 several miles, and at a good pace too. It is no rare occurrence 

 for a steamboat to capture one while it is swimming Puget 

 Sound, and I heard of a boat that ran down two in one day 

 in the Snohomish lliver, a stream emptying into Possession 

 Sound. The animal is so common everywhere in the dense 

 iorests of the North-west that it seems somewhat odd that 

 large numbers are not killed annually for their flesh alone, for a 

 bear steak, though by no means the tenderest of meat, is still 

 palatable to the most dainty of appetites. One reason for their 

 immunity from attack is due to the fact that they do not 

 trouble the farmyard much, and that their hide does not bring 

 much of a price in the West, though it is costly enough in the 

 retail market. They commit a raid occasionally, however, on 

 the farmyard, but it consists principally in stealing a young 

 pig or a lamb, or upsetting an apiary; but in the majority of 

 cases they pay dearly for such temerity, for no effort, from 

 poison to rifle, is spared to get rid of them. 



The Indians formerly hunted them for their skins, which 

 were sold to the fur companies ; but since the great companies 

 have left the country little attention has been paid to this 

 business south of British America. The red men kill them 

 occasionally now for their flesh and hide, and for their claws, 

 which are highly prized for necklaces. 



A friend and myself, while wandering through Washington 

 Territory, found ourselves one day among a tribe of Indians on 

 the Skagit lliver, and as they were preparing for a grand ]><>(- 

 latch, or distribution of gifts to their friends in other tribes, we 

 concluded to wait and see the ceremony. Not earing to share 

 the cabin or wigwam of any of the sons of the forest, through 

 fear of making the acquaintance of the numerous crawling 

 creatures that live in them with the owners, we pitched our 

 camp under the shelter of a spreading spruce, near the middle 

 of the encampment, and made ourselves as comfortable as cir- 

 cumstances would permit. Being guests, in an informal wav, 

 of the chief, we left all our ic/as in camp, except our rifles, 

 revolvers, and knives, and roamed around among the different 

 huts or mat wigwams, paying visits of curiosity and ceremony, 

 as we wished to ingratiate ourselves with the people. 



