32 The Grizzly Bear 



were still cubs and very little more than half grown when 

 their ferocity became so alarming as to excite continual 

 apprehension lest they should escape, and they were 

 killed to prevent such an event." 



He then quotes the following letter from Lieutenant 

 Zebulon M. Pike, addressed to President Jefferson, re- 

 ferring to these cubs, and throwing a curious side light 

 upon their ferocity. 



Washington, February 3, 1808. 

 Sir: I had the honor of receiving your note last evening, and 

 in reply to the inquiries of Mr. Peale can only give the following 

 notes : The bears were taken by an Indian in the mountains which 

 divide the large western branch of the Rio del Norte and some 

 small rivers which discharge their waters into the east side of the 

 Gulf of California, near the dividing line between the provinces of 

 Biscay and Sonora. We . . . purchased them of the savages, 

 and for three or four days I made my men carry them in their laps 

 on horseback. As they would eat nothing but milk they were in 

 danger of starving. I then had a cage prepared for both, which 

 was carried on a mule, lashed between two packs, but always 

 ordered them to be let out the moment we halted, and not shut 

 up again before we were prepared to march. By this treatment, 

 they became exceedingly docile, when at liberty following my 

 men (whom they learned to distinguish from the Spanish dragoons 

 by their always feeding them, and encamping with them) like 

 dogs through our camps, the small villages, and forts where we 

 halted. When well supplied with sustenance they would play like 

 young puppies with each other and the soldiers, but the instant 

 they were shut up and placed on the mule they became cross, as 

 the jolting knocked them against each other and they were some- 

 times left exposed to the scorching heat of a vertical sun for days 

 without food or a drop of water, in which case they would worry 



