The Kadiak Bear and his Home 



see badly, and being themselves very noisy, can de- 

 pend little on their ears. 



My men declared that in the happy olden days, 

 before bear skins were worth much perhaps two 

 dollars apiece and the natives only killed one 

 ocasionally for meat, families of bear could be seen 

 in the daytime on the sunny sidehills. Now they 

 are rarely abroad except in the early morning and 

 late evening. The old crafty animals which have 

 weathered all attacks for years, come down from 

 the hills at night, and, after a hasty meal, make 

 a quick retreat. When one of these big brutes is 

 killed he is said to be a regular lead mine of native 

 bullets. In all some thirty or forty bears are 

 killed yearly on the Kadiak Islands, cubs not being 

 spared; and unless a remedy is quickly applied, 

 these splendid animals will soon be exterminated, 

 and will become as rare as the giant sloth of Pata- 

 gonia. Now that spring otter hunting is no longer 

 worth while, and the natives have little to do until 

 the middle of May, when they plant their potatoes, 

 spring bear hunting is becoming popular. 



The passing of the Kadiak bear is a sad subject 

 to think about. The few survivors of this magnifi- 

 cent race are harried from bay to bay, as soon as 

 they come out from their holes in the spring, and 

 are given no quiet except in mid-summer. They 



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