THE KING OP THE WILDERNESS. 183 



respectfully and carefully in his mouth, nfever offer- 

 ing to grab. Dr. Merriam states that in 1883 many 

 bears dwelt in an evergreen forest in Lewis County, 

 New York, twenty miles west of the border of the 

 Adirondack wilderness ; in the autumn they were 

 in the habit of crossing the intervening valley and 

 entering the Adirondack region, passing quite near 

 the town of Leyden, his home. Here, within six 

 miles of his residence, nine bears were killed in 

 October, 187Y.* Bears frequent the woods in the 

 vicinity of Mount Chocorua, in the White Mountains, 

 and they still haunt those giant peaks of the Sandwich 

 range which overlook the pleasant valley of the Bear- 

 camp Water. 



During the winter of 1873 several bears were 

 killed in the vicinity of the Twin Mountain House, 

 White Mountains ; and I recollect a young one, tame 

 and intelligent, a great pet with the guests of the 

 hotel in the succeeding summer, whose special delight 

 was a bit of maple sugar or a slice of cake. Most of 

 the afternoon he circumambulated about the heavy 

 stake to which he was chained, and occasionally took 

 a sitz bath in the tub provided for his comfort. One 

 of his favorite performances was to balance himself 

 crosswise on the edge of the tub with three paws, 



* Vide Transactions of the Linnasan Society, vol. i. Animals 

 of the Adirondacks. By Clinton Hart Merriam, M. D. 



