MEMOIR OP PENNANT. 
57 
“ The hunters live rvell during the chase, on pro- 
visions which they bring with them. They return 
home rvith great pride and self-sufficiency, for to 
kill a bear forms the character of a complete man. 
They again give a great entertainment, and now- 
make a point to leave nothing. The feast is dedi- 
cated to a certain genius, perhaps Gluttony, whose 
resentment they dread, if they do not eat every 
morsel, and even sup up the very melted grease in 
which the meat was dressed. Tliey sometimes eat 
till they hurst, or bring on themselves some violent 
disorders. The first course is the greatest hear 
they have killed, without even taking out the en- 
trails or stripping off the skin, contenting themselves 
with singeing it, as is practised with hogs. 
The Kamtschatkans, before their conversion to 
Christianity, had almost similar superstitions re- 
specting hears and other wild beasts. They entreat- 
ed the hears and wolves not to hurt them in the 
chase ; and whales and marine animals, not to over- 
turn their boats. They never call the two former 
by their proper names, but by that of Sipang, or 
ill-luck. At present the Kamtschatkans kill the 
bear and other wild beasts with guns; formerly 
they had variety of inventions, such as filling the 
entrance to its den with logs, and then digging 
down upon the animal and destroying it with spears. 
In Siberia, it is taken by making a trap-fall of a 
great piece of timber, which drops and crushes it 
to death ; or by forming a noose on a rope fastened 
