MAMMALIA. 1¥ 
most severely on the males, by preventing them from fattening a second time ; 
hence their migration at such times to more southerly districts. It is not, how- 
ever, true that the Black Bears generally abandon the northern districts on the 
approach of winter, as has been asserted, the quantity of Bear skins procured 
during that season in all parts of the fur countries being a sufficient proof to the 
contrary. The females bring forth about the beginning of January, and it is pro- 
bable that the period of their gestation is about fifteen or sixteen weeks, but I 
believe it has not been precisely ascertained. The number of cubs varies from 
one to five, probably with the age of the mother, and they begin to bear long 
before they attain their full size. 
The Black Bear inhabits every wooded district of the American continent, from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Carolina to the shores of the Arctic sea. 
They are, however, more numerous inland than near the sea-coast. Langsdorff 
observes, that ‘‘ the valuable Black Bear, the skins of which form part of the 
(Russian) Company's stock, are not the produce of the Aleutian islands, but 
of the continent of America, about Cook’s river, Prince William’s Sound, and 
other places *. 
The strength and agility of the Bear, together with its tenacity of life, render 
an attack upon it hazardous, and its chace has been considered by the rude in- 
habitants of the northern regions as a matter of the highest importance. Many of 
the native tribes of America will not join the chace until they have propitiated the 
whole race of Bears by certain speeches and ceremonies, and when the animal is 
slain they treat it with the utmost respect, speak of it as of a relation, offer it 
a pipe to smoke, and seldom fail to make a speech in exculpation of the act of 
violence they have committed in slaying it, although the hunter at the same time 
glories in his prowess. ‘This veneration for the Bear seems to have arisen from 
the ability and pertinacity with which it defends itself; and it is interesting to 
observe in how similar a manner the same feeling manifests itself in tribes speak- 
ing diverse languages, and widely separated from each other by geographical 
position. Thus, Regnard informs us that the chase of the Bear is the most 
solemn action of the Laplander, and the successful hunter may be known by and 
exults in the number of tufts of bear’s hair he wears in his bonnet. When the 
retreat of a Bear is discovered, the ablest sorcerer of the tribe beats the runic 
drum‘ to discover the event of the chase, and the side on which the animal 
* LanesporFr’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 74. 
+ The same kind of drum, shaped like a double-headed tambourine, and painted with arbitrary characters or rude 
representations of wild beasts and of the heavenly bodies, is common throughout all the various North American tribes. 
D 
