BLACK AMERICAN BEAR. 6l 



He particularly noticed that the ears of the yellow bear 

 stood much more backward than those of the other, 

 that they were not quite so large, and that their general 

 physiognomy was very different : there was also a much 

 greater convexity of forehead and a sharper nose than in 

 the black bear. It seems, also, that no doubt is enter- 

 tained of their being a distinct race of these animals. 

 They were formerly common in Virginia ; and they are 

 still abundant in North-western Louisiana, where they 

 are called white bears, — a name likewise given, as Dr. 

 Richardson observes, to the pale-coloured black bears of 

 Arctic America ; but it does not appear, from the rela- 

 tion of that traveller, that any animal answering to the 

 description of the yellow bear of Carolina has ever been 

 seen in those high northern latitudes. 



In a commercial point of view, the skins of this spe- 

 cies formed, at one time, a most lucrative branch of 

 commerce to the fur traders, and is still so in a less de- 

 gree. Some idea may be formed of the exterminating 

 de ttruction that has been carried on against these ani- 

 mals, prompted by the avarice and the vitiated wants of 

 man, when it is stated, that, in the year 1783, no fewer 

 than 10,500 bear-skins were imported into England from 

 the northern parts of America : this number gradually 

 increased until 180.1, when it had reached "25,000, the 

 average value of each skin being estimated at forty shil- 

 lings. Did the Almighty create these creatures merely 

 to furnish hammercloths for the carriages of the great, 

 and military trappings for the " men of blood ? " For- 

 tunately for the poor bears, who at this rate would very 

 soon have been exterminated from the earth, the de- 

 mand, as it is termed, for their skins is now very small. 

 Formerly, Pr. Richardson says, a skin with the fur in 

 prime order and the claws appended was worth from 

 twenty to forty guineas, and even more ; but, at present, 

 the best sells for less than forty shillings. We hope this 

 state of things may long continue. 



