194 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
whom he did not know, and whose intentions naturally appeared 
suspicious, Martin, who might have been dreaming of battle, leaped 
at the throat of the intruder and strangled him, after which he 
scalped him, according to the custom of savages ; that is to say, 
he despoiled him of his locks, not without injury to the skin of 
the head. Now it was this last trait of vengeance, misunderstood, 
— this trait, so characteristic, which injured the bear in popular 
opinion, and caused it to be said of him that he loved above all 
things, spiced bread and veterans. 
The ignorant vulgar attributed this isolated action to the san- 
guinary humor of the species. The warlike nation which adorned 
the heads of its choice corps with the bear-skin hat, could not par- 
don the poor animal for having applied the lex talifjnis to one of 
its warriors. But if the impartial judge considers all the circum- 
stances of the murder, the night attack, the escalade, the exag- 
gerated value that bear skins possessed at this epoch, when the 
bear-skin cap occupied so exalted a position in the social order, he 
will certainly admit, like me, the plea of legitimate defense for the 
bear, and like me he will find him innocent. Could it be proved 
that the old soldier in question actually wore a bear-skin cap, as 
some aver, oh ! then the innocence of the bear can no longer be 
questioned — -he has no need of an advocate. 
To these attenuating circumstances, shall we not also add that of 
the natural resentment which must have risen to the heart of the 
beast at the sight of that uniform, which recalled so cruelly to his 
mind the misfortunes of his natal citj^ the spoliation of his own 
capital, the miseries of his expatriation. Mild as was his exile in 
the French metropolis, he could not breathe there the pure air of 
his mountains. Paris was not, Berne, and the birth of his children 
was no longer as at home, the subject of universal joy ! 
The bear is met with in all parts of the globe and in all latitudes : 
at Borneo under the line, as at Thorneo near the pole ; in Asia, 
from the most northern extremity of the Galles to the mouth of the 
Lena and at Nova Zembla ; in Europe, from Cape Matapan to Cape 
North ; in America, from the land of the giants of Patagonia to 
that of the dwarf Esquimaux. Africa seems indeed an exception 
to the general rule ; but I believe in the existence of the African 
