20 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
ate heartily of the Bear’s flesh. It is only the female Bear that makes her winter 
lodging in the upper parts of trees, a practice by which her young are secured 
from the attacks of wolves and other animals. She brings forth in the winter- 
season ; and remains in her lodge till the cubs have gained some strength. The 
male always lodges in the ground, under the roots of trees. He takes to this 
habitation as soon as the snow falls, and remains there till it has disappeared. 
The Indians remark, that the Bear comes out in the spring with the same 
fat which he carries in in the autumn; but, after the exercise of only a few days, 
becomes lean. Excepting for a short part of the season, the male lives con- 
stantly alone.” 
La Hontan* has also given a very full account of the ceremonies attending a 
Bear-hunt by the Canadian Indians, which does not differ greatly from Mr. Henry’s. 
The women of the Chepewyan and Dog-rib tribes will not touch a bear’s skin, nor 
even step over it; so that one spread at the door of a tent is an effectual bar 
against female intruders. Even the men of some of the tribes refuse to eat 
bear’s flesh, or pemmican which contains bear’s grease. The Laplanders, also, 
prohibit their women from eating certain portions of a bear. ‘The flesh of a bear, 
when in good condition, resembles greasy and rather flabby pork ; and when the 
animal has been fed on the sea-coast, and by the banks of rivers, has also a fishy 
taste. The skin of a Black Bear, with the fur in prime order, and the claws 
appended, was, at one period, worth from twenty to forty guineas, and even more, 
but at present the demand for them is so small, from their being little used either 
for muffs or hammercloths, that the best, I believe, sell for less than forty shillings. 
* La Hontan, Journal de Voy., vol. v. p. 169, et seg. See alsoScnHootcrort’s Narrative, &c., p. 183. 
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