Photograph by R. F. Griggs 



A KODIAK BEAR SKIN 



Although by no means a large skin, as Kodiak bears go, comparison with the mountain-lion 

 skin to the right shows how much larger the bear is than the panther 



they had learned by experience not to try 

 that. 



Everywhere we kept a sharp lookout 

 for bears, but, although we found a great 

 many tracks belonging to at least a half- 

 dozen sizes of bears, we did not see any 

 of them. At first we were rather con- 

 cerned for fear that we should come 

 upon one suddenly, for in such a barren 

 country we could not but believe that 

 they must be hungry, and in any event a 

 she bear with cubs is an ugly customer 

 to settle with on short notice. The bears 

 of this region are only slightly inferior 

 in size to the Kodiak bear, which is the 

 largest carnivorous animal in the world, 

 so large as to make a full-grown grizzly 

 look like a cub by comparison. 



Later, after we had traveled many days 

 without seeing one, we began to be as 

 much concerned for fear we should not 

 see a bear as we had been at first for 

 fear we should. 



They doubtless saw us many times, but 

 were shy and kept out of our way. In- 

 deed, once we thought a mother and cubs 



who had been advancing toward us had 

 turned and retreated on our approach, 

 for we found where their tracks, appar- 

 ently just made, suddenly reversed and 

 turned up the valley. We often found 

 on returning over one of our trails that 

 a bear out of curiosity had tracked us 

 for some distance, and when we saw be- 

 side our own footprints enormous bear 

 tracks measuring nine by fourteen inches 

 we could not avoid having somewhat of a 

 creepy feeling. Some of the bear tracks 

 were so clear that we could see the marks 

 of the creases in their soles, and had we 

 been palmists doubtless we could have 

 read the fortune of the possessor or at 

 least have learned his disposition. 



OTHER SIGNS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



Besides bears, foxes were very abun- 

 dant, and we could frequently get their 

 scent as we traveled along. Wolverines 

 were also frequent travelers along the 

 trails we used. One of the latter must 

 have passed close beside us one day as 

 we climbed a mountain, for we found his 



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