IN THE FAR WEST. 383 



their assertions that it killed deer by climbing a tree and 

 dropping- a piece of moss before it, and when the latter 

 stopped to eat the tempting 1 morsel, to pounce suddenly on its 

 back and destroy it in a moment ; or those uttered by old 

 trappers, that no bullets could kill it, as it spat them out the 

 moment they entered the body, and that no man could 

 approach it unless he had the medicine bag- of a great Indian 

 chief about his person. The tales told about its courage, 

 cunning, daring, and nonchalance are indeed numerous in the 

 North-west, but it is hardly necessary to state that while some 

 of them are founded on a substratum of fact, the greater 

 number have no stronger basis than the imagination of super- 

 stitious and often ignorant trappers, and their congeners, the 

 half-breeds and Indians. 



The animal whose fabulous characteristics have made it so 

 famous, look likes a small and clumsy bear-cub, though its gait 

 is not so plantigrade as that of bruin. It has strength without 

 activity, courage without caution, and energy without apparent 

 motive, but it has so many other excellent qualities that these 

 seem to be only the negative sides. It is certainly ungainly 

 in appearance, the body being thick and rather long, the legs 

 thick and short, the back arched and higher than the head or 

 rump, the eyes very small and wide apart, the ears low, the head 

 broad, with a short, pointed muzzle, and the tail being droop- 

 ing, of medium length, and very bushy. The feet are largo 

 for its size, and unusually furry, but the balls of the digits are 

 naked. In colour it is a dusky brown, with a perceptible band 

 of yellowish-brown along the sides. The under parts, tail, and 

 legs are blackish ; and the claws are white, curved, sharp, and 

 strong. It has an average length, excluding the tail, of about 

 twenty-six inches, while the tail ranges from twelve to fourteen 

 inches. 



Like its family in general, it is not very odorous when 

 aroused by anger, as it secretes a fluid in the anal glands which 

 is very disagreeable when discharged. It is an arrant thief in 

 character, and neither traps nor caches are safe from its depre- 

 dations ; it will even steal the most useless articles, and hide 

 them with the cunning of a professional burglar. Camps and 



