148 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

and com; but when hungry he will feed on flesh, and attack
other animals with courage and fierceness. He climbs trees,
and uses his paws like hands. In winter he retires to his
den, which is usually a hollow in some decayed tree, where
he hybernates until spring. Though of a wild disposition,
he can be tamed, and taught various tricks, in which he
displays a good deal of sagacity and docility. The following
story is quoted by Captain Brown from Captains Lewis’ and
Clarke’s travels to the source of the Missouri, as a striking
instance of the astonishing physical powers of the bear.
“One evening, the men in the hindmost of the canoes, discov-
ered a large bear lying in the open grounds, about three
hundred paces from the river. Six of them, all good hunters,
set out to attack him; and, concealing themselves by a small
eminence, came unperceived within forty paces of him. Four
of them now fired, and each lodged a ball in his body, two
of them directly through the lungs. The enraged animal
sprang up, and ran open-mouthed at them. As he came
near, the two hunters who had reserved their fire, gave him
two wounds, one of which, breaking his shoulder, retarded
his motion for a moment; but, before they could reload, he
was so near, that they were obliged to run to the river, and,
when they reached it, he had almost overtaken them. Two
jumped into the canoe; the other four separated, and, con-
cealing themselves in the willows, fired as fast as each could
load. They struck him several times, which only exasperated
him; and he at last pursued two of them so closely, that
they leaped down a perpendicular bank of twenty feet into
the river. The bear sprang after them, and was within a
few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters from the
shore shot him in the head, and killed him. They dragged
him to the banks of the river, and found that eight bails
had passed through his body.”

Of his docility Mrs. Bowdich gives the following amusing,
if, at the time, alarming illustration. “A young English officer,