50 
THE HISTORY OF 
jumbling of two sorts of flesh together be a sin, how intolerable an offence 
must it be to make a Spanish olla, that is, a hotchpotch of every kind of thing 
that is eatable 1 And the good people of England would have a great deal to 
answer for, for beating up so many different ingredients into a pudding. 
12th. We were so cruelly entangled witli bushes and grape-vines all day, 
that we could advance the line no farther than five miles and twenty-eight 
poles. The vines grow very thick in these woods, twining lovingly round 
the trees almost every where, especially to the saplings. This makes it evi- 
dent how natural both the soil and climate of this country are to vines, 
though I believe most to our own vines. The grapes we commonly met with 
were black, though there be two or three kinds of white grapes that grow 
wild. The black are very sweet, but small, because the strength of the vine 
spends itself in wood ; though without question a proper culture would make 
the same grapes both larger and sweeter. But, with all these disadvantages, 
I have drunk tolerable good wine pressed from them, though made without 
skill. There is then good reason to believe it might admit of great improve- 
ment, if rightly managed. Our Indian killed a bear, two years old, that was 
feasting on these grapes. He was very fat, as they generally are in that sea- 
son of the year! In the fall, the flesh of this animal has a high relish, differ- 
ent from that of other creatures, though inclining nearest to that of pork, or 
rather of wild boar. A true woodsman prefers this sort of meat to that of 
the fattest venison, not only for the haul gout, but also because the fat of it is 
well tasted, and never rises in the stomach. Another proof of the goodness 
of this meat is, that it is less apt to corrupt than any other with which we are 
acquainted. As agreeable as such rich diet was to the men, yet we who 
were not accustomed to it, tasted it at first with some sort of squeamishness, 
that animal being of the dog kind ; though a little use soon reconciled us to 
this American venison. And^ that its being of the dog kind might give us the 
less disgust, we had the example of that ancient and polite people, the Chi- 
nese, who reckon dog’s flesh too good for any under the quality of a manda- 
rin. This beast is in truth a very clean feeder, living, while the season lasts, 
upon acorns, chestnuts and chinquapins, wild honey and wild grapes. They 
are naturally not carnivorous, unless hunger constrain them to it, after the 
mast is all gone, and the product of the woods quite exhausted. They are 
not provident enough to lay up any hoard, like the squirrels, nor can they, 
after all, live very long upon licking their paws, as sir John Mandevil and 
some other travellers tell us, but are forced in the winter months to quit the 
mountains, and visit the inhabitants. Their errand is then to surprise a poor 
hog at a pinch to keep them from starving. And to show that they are not 
flesh-eaters by trade, they devour their prey very awkwardly. They do not 
kill it right out, and feast upon its blood and entrails, like other ravenous 
beasts, but having, after a fair pursuit, seized it with their paws, they begin 
first upon the rump, and so devour one collop after another, till they come to 
the vitals, the poor animal crying all the while, for several minutes together. 
However, in so doing. Bruin acts a little imprudently, because the dismal out- 
cry of the hog alarms the neighbourhood, and it is odds but he pays the for- 
feit with his life, before he can secure his retreat. But bears soon grow weary 
of this unnatural diet, and about January, when there is nothing to be gotten 
in the woods, they retire into some cave or hollow tree, where they sleep 
away two or three months very comfortably. But then they quit their holes 
in March, when the fish begin to run up the rivers, on which they are forced 
to keep Lent, till some fruit or berry comes in season. But bears are fondest 
of chestnuts, which grow plentifully towards the mountains, upon very large 
trees, where the soil happens to be rich. We were curious to know how it 
happened that many of the outward branches of those trees came to be broken 
