BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 63 



along, and embracing one another : then they go apart into 

 Caves, where thirty Days after they produce their Cubs, 

 commonly five at a Time. These are a Lump of white un- 

 formed Flesh, 1 little bigger than Rats, without Eyes, and 

 without Hair; only the Claws are put forth. This Lump, 

 by licking, they fashion by little and little ; and nothing is 

 more rare than to see a she-Bear bringing forth her Young : 

 and this is one Cause why the male Bears lie hid for 

 forty Days, and the Female for four Months. If they have 

 no Caves, they build themselves Cabins of Wood, by ga- 

 thering together Boughs and Bushes, in order to be im- 

 pervious to Rain ; and they strew soft Leaves upon the 

 Floor. For the first fourteen Days they sleep so soundly, 

 that they cannot possibly be awaked, even with Wounds. In 

 this state of Drowsiness they grow exceedingly Fat. This 

 their Grease 2 is a good Medicine for those that shed their 

 Hair. These (fourteen) Days being past, they sit up, and 

 live by sucking their fore Feet. Their young Cubs, when 

 stiff with Cold, they cherish by pressing to their Bosom, 

 much as Birds do that sit upon their Eggs. A wonderful 

 Thing is told, and believed by Theophrastus, that if Bears' 

 Flesh 3 be taken during those Days, and cooked, and then 

 kept safe, it will grow. At this Time there doth not appear 

 any Token [of Excrement] of Meat that they have eaten ; 

 and very little Moisture is found within their Belly. Of 

 Blood some few small Drops lie about the Heart only, 4 and 

 none at all in the whole Body besides. When Spring is 

 come, they quit their Den ; and at that Time the Males are 

 exceedingly fat : but the Reason of this cannot be readily 

 rendered : for, as we said before, they had no more than 



1 In proof of the errors of this account, young bears have been 

 extracted from the mother after she has been killed ; and they have been 

 found to have their parts as distinct as other animals. Wern. Club. 



2 Lib. xxviii. 11. It is also a famous prescription for the same pur- 

 pose in the present day. Wern. Club. 



3 Theophrastus (de Odoribus), from whom Pliny borrows this, does 

 not speak of bears'^/Zes^, but bears' grease; but this does not diminish the 

 wonder. Wern. Club. 



4 Lib, xi. 38. 



