ORDER V. THE CARNIVORA. 171 



great beasts Itefore his character is estahlishcd ; after ^Yhicil liis alliance is as 

 much courted as that of the most valiant captain. They then proceed on 

 their way in a direct line; neither rivers, nor marshes, nor any other im- 

 pediments stop their course ; driving before them all the beasts which they 

 find in their way. When they arrive at the hunting-ground, they surround 

 as large a space as their company will admit, and then contract their order ; 

 searching, as they close in, every hollow tree, and every place fit for the 

 retreat of the bear, and continue the same practice till the time of the chase 

 is ex[)ired. 



"As soon as a bear is killed, they cut out the string of the tongue, and 

 throw it into the fire. If it crackles and runs in, — -which it is almost sure to 

 do, — they accept it as a good omen; if not, they consider that the spirit 

 of the beast is not appeased, and that the chase of the next year will be 

 unfortunate. 



"The hunters live well during the chase, on provisions they bring with 

 them. They return home with great pride and self-sufficiency ; for to kill a 

 bear forms the character of a complete man. They again give a great enter- 

 tainment, and now make a point to leave nothing. The feast is dedicated to 

 a certain genius, perhaps Gluttony, whose resentment they dread if they do 

 not eat every morsel, and even sup up the very melted grease in which the 

 meat was dressed. The first course is the greatest bear they have killed, 

 without even taking ofl:" the skin or removing the entrails, contenting them- 

 selves with singeing it. 



" The Kamtschatkans formerly had a variety of inventions for destroying 

 the bear, such as filling the entrance to its den with logs, and then digging- 

 down upon the animal, and killing it with spears. In Siberia, it is taken by 

 making a trap-fall of a great piece of timber, which drops and crushes it to 

 death, or by forming a noose on a rope fastened to a great log. The bear 

 runs its head into the noose, and finding itself engaged, grows fiu-ious, and 

 either fliUs down some precipice raid kills itself, or wearies itself to death by 

 its agitations. 



" The killing of a bear in fair battle is reckoned as great a piece of hero- 

 ism by the Kamtschatkans, as it is with the American Indians. The victor 

 makes a feast on the occasion, and resales his neighbors with the Ijeast ; then 

 hangs the head and thighs about his tent by way of trophies. These people 

 use the skins to lie on, and for coverlets; also for bonnets, gloves, collars 

 for their dogs, and soles for their shoes, to prevent them slipping on the ice. 

 Of the shoulder-blades they make scythes to cut the grass ; of the intestines, 

 covers for their faces, to protect them from the sun during spring ; and the 

 Cossacks extend them over their windows instead of glass. The flesh and 

 fat are among the chief dainties of the country. 



