THE KOMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



Mr. Lloyd and other northern sportsmen testify. 

 Though it can subsist on fruits, grain, and honey, 

 which involve no destruction of animal life, yet it 

 is predaceous and ferocious too. The ancient 

 Romans made use of Scottish bears to augment 

 the horrors of public executions :— 



" Nuda Caledonio sic pectora praebuit urso, 

 Non falsa pendens in cruce, Laureolus." 



The ferocity of the Syrian bear is illustrated by 

 many passages of Sacred Writ, and in particular 

 by the narrative which records the slaughter of 

 the forty-two youths, who mocked Elisha, by two 

 she-bears.* And the Polar bear is a truly savage 

 and powerful animal. 



But no species of the genus can compare with 

 the grizzly bear of the North American prairies, 

 for either size, strength, or ferocity. The names 

 of Ursns ferox and U. horribilis, which have been 

 given to it, re-echo the prevailing ideas of its ter- 

 rible character. Even the savage bison, vast and 

 mighty as he is, falls a prey to the grizzly bear, 

 which can drag the carcase, though a thousand 

 pounds in weight, to its haunt. Lewis and Clarke 

 measured one which was nine feet in length. 



The hunters and trappers of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains delight to tell, over their camp fires, stories 

 of personal encounters with this formidable sav- 

 age. Many of these stirring incidents have found 

 their way into print, and one of them I shall here 

 condense. 



A Canadian named Villandrie, pursuing his 

 occupation of a free trapper on the Yellow-stone 

 River, had acquired by his skill and daring the 

 reputation of the best white hunter in the region. 

 One morning, when he was riding out to have a 



* 2 Kings ii. 24. 

 232 



