GRIZZLY BEAR, 
143 
Feet. 
Inches. 
Length of sole of hind foot, 
Breadth of do., 
Girth around the body, behind the shoulders, - 4 
Width between the ears on the skull, - 
94 
54 
1 
74 
HABITS. 
We have passed many hours of excitement, and some, perchance, of 
danger, in the wilder portions of our country ; and at times memory recals 
adventures we can now hardly attempt to describe ; nor can we ever again 
feel the enthusiasm such scenes produced in us. Our readers must there- 
fore imagine, the startling sensations experienced on a sudden and quite 
unexpected face-to-face meeting with the savage Grizzly Bear — the huge 
shaggy monster disputing possession of the wilderness against all comers, 
and threatening immediate attack ! 
Whilst in a neighbourhood where the Grizzly Bear may possibly be 
hidden, the excited nerves will cause the heart’s pulsations to quicken if 
but a startled ground-squirrel run past ; the sharp click of the lock is 
heard, and the rifle hastily thrown to the shoulder, before a second of time 
has assured the hunter of the trifling cause of his emotion. 
But although dreaded alike by white hunter and by red man, this animal 
is fortunately not very abundant to the eastward of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and the chance of encountering him does not often occur. We saw 
only a few of these formidable beasts during our expedition up the Missouri 
river and in the country over which we hunted during our last journey 
to the west. 
The Indians, as is well known, consider the slaughter of a Grizzly Bear 
a feat second only to scalping an enemy, and necklaces made of the claws of 
this beast are worn as trophies by even the bravest among them. 
On the 22d of August, 1843, we killed one of these Bears, and as our 
journals are before us, and thinking it may be of interest, we will extract 
the account of the day’s proceedings, although part of it has no connection 
with our present subject. We were descending the Upper Missouri river. 
“ The weather being fine we left our camp of the previous night early, 
but had made only about twelve miles when the wind arose and prevented 
our men from making any headway with the oars ; we therefore landed 
under a high bank amongst a number of fallen trees and some drifted 
timber. All hands went in search of elks. Mr. Culbertson killed a 
deer, and with the help of Mr. Squires brought the meat to the boat. We 
saw nothing during a long walk we took, but hearing three or four gun- 
shots which we thought were fired by some of our party, we hastened in 
