THE BEAR. 



21 



ing me to do the same, and thus appease the an- 

 ger of the Bear on account of my having killed 

 her. 



" I endeavored to persuade my benefactor and 

 friendly adviser that she no longer had any life, 

 and assured him that I was under no apprehen- 

 sion from her displeasure ; but the first proposi- 

 tion obtained no credit, and the second gave but 

 little satisfaction. 



" At length the feast being ready, Wawatam. 

 made a speech, resembling in many things his 

 address to the manes of his relations and de- 

 parted companions, but having this peculiarity, 

 that he here deplored tlie necessity under which 

 men labored thus to destroy their friends. He 

 represented, however, that the misfortune was 

 unavoidable, since without doing so they could 

 by no means subsist. The speech ended, we all 

 eat heartily of the Bear's flesh;, and even the 

 head itself, after remaining three days on the 

 scaffold, was put into the kettle." 



The Brown Bear,, which lives in Siberia, may 

 be considered among the most good-natured of 

 his tribe. Mr. Atkinson, who traveled in that 

 country, tells us that some peasants — a father 

 and mother — had one day lost two of their chil- 

 dren, between four and six years of age. It was 

 soon evident that their young, ones had wandered 

 away to a distance from their home^ and as soon 

 as this discovery was made they set off in search 

 of them. 



Having proceeded some way through the wilds, 

 they caught sight in the distance of a large ani- 

 mal, which, as they got nearer, they discovered 

 to be a Brown Bear; and what was their horror 

 to see within its clutches their lost young ones ! 



Their sensations of dismay were exchanged for 

 astonishment, when they saw the children run- 

 ning about, laughing, round the Bear, sometimes 



taking it by the paws, and sometimes pulling it 

 by the tail. The monster, evidently amused with 

 their behavior, treated them in the most affec- 

 tionate manner. One of the children now pro- 

 duced some fruit, with which it fed its shaggy 

 playfellow, while the other climbed up on its 

 back, and sat there, fearlessly urging its strange 

 steed to move on. The parents gave way to cries 

 of terror at seeing the apparent danger to which 

 their offspring were ex[)0sed. The little' boy, 

 however, having slipped off the Bear's back, tlie 

 animal, hearing the sound of their voices, left the 

 children, and retreated quietly into the forest. 



The picture illustrates an event which hap- 

 pened to a gentleman in Norway, who started out 

 one winter morning with some companions in 

 pursuit of Bears, accompanied by a number of 

 Dogs of all degrees. They soon came upon the 

 winter-quarters of a. large animal, jind after re- 

 peated efforts. Bruin was dislodged from his warm 

 berth and wounded. Forced to defend himself, 

 he soon became the aggressor, and rushing upon 

 the narrator of the occurrence, struck him down 

 and lay upon him. Fortunately the snow was 

 deep, and knowing his only chance was to lie 

 perfectly still, the gentleman buried himself as 

 much as possible in .the snow and feigned to be 

 dead. 



The Bear was very old, and his teeth were 

 worn down so close to the gums that they con- 

 tinually slipped off, and did no injury when he 

 seized the hunter's head in his mouth. While 

 this was going on the Bear was attacked by the 

 Dogs, which set upon him from all sides, and 

 prevented him from attending to the man be- 

 neath him. While thus engaged the other hunt- 

 ers arrived upon the scene, and quickly dis- 

 patching the animal, freed their companion from 

 his disagreeable and perilous position. 



