The most dreaded inhabitant of the Rocky Mountains and their
neighbourhood, is the savage grizzly, frequently called by the hunters
Old Ephraim. Even the bravest hunter, when making his way through this
wild region, finds it necessary to call all his courage and hardihood to
his aid, when he sees one of these huge monsters sitting upon its
hind-legs prepared for a rush towards him, and uttering a loud, harsh
sound, like a person breathing quickly. Should he not wish for a
contest, his best plan is to face the monster boldly, moving slowly on,
but ever keeping his eyes fixed on the animal. The bear will, in most
cases, after watching him attentively for some time, turn round and
gallop off. If, however, he should lose his presence of mind, and
attempt to fly--or should he fail, when he fires, to shoot the monster
through the brain--in all probability he will quickly be torn to pieces.
The grizzly frequently attains a length of nine feet, and weighs from
700 to 800 pounds. His head, in proportion to his muzzle, is very
large. He has a long, narrow muzzle, somewhat flattened, with large,
powerful, canine teeth. His eyes are small, and deeply sunk in his
head. His tail is so short, that it is completely concealed by the
surrounding hair. He possesses remarkably long feet, which, in the
full-grown animal, are eighteen inches in length; and they are armed
with sharp and powerful claws five inches long, and so extremely sharp,
that they cut into the flesh like knives. He can also use them
separately like fingers, so that he can grasp a dry clod of earth and
crumble it to dust as a human being could do with his hand. He can
also, with them, dig into the ground; and when the weight of his body is
not too great, they enable him to climb trees, although not with the
speed of his black brother of the plains. As acorns form a portion of
his food, it is said that he will climb a tree and shake the boughs
vehemently to make them fall, when he descends and revels on the fruit
his ingenuity has thus obtained. The hunter who has to fly for his life
may however escape from a bear,--when the monster is filled out with
autumn food, and cannot manage to raise his huge body from the ground,--
by climbing a tree.
The grizzly varies much in colour. Sometimes his fur is of a dullish
brown, freckled over with grizzly hairs; while other specimens are
entirely of a steely grey. In all cases, the grizzly hairs give a
somewhat white appearance to the surface of the fur. When the animal is
young, his fur is of a rich brown, and often very long and thick, and
much finer than that of the adult animal. When the creature walks, he
swings his body in an odd fashion, rolling his head, at the same time,
from side to side, which gives him a remarkably awkward look. Although
the grizzly occasionally satisfies himself with vegetable diet, he will
also attack and devour any animals he can kill. He does not hesitate to
assault the powerful bison; and on overtaking a herd, he will spring
without hesitation on the largest bull, and, with the tremendous strokes
of his powerful paws, speedily bring it to the ground, when he will
without difficulty drag the enormous carcass off to his lair, to devour
it at his leisure. All other animals stand in awe of the grizzly; and
even the largest pack of hungry wolves will not venture to attack him,
nor indeed will they touch his carcass after he has succumbed to the
rifle of the hunter. Horses especially are terror-stricken when they
scent or see a grizzly; and not until they have been carefully trained,
will they even allow the skin of one to be placed on their backs.
The grizzly employs his claws both in digging for roots and in burying
any large animal he may have killed, to preserve the carcass till he
requires it for another meal. An anecdote is given of a hunter who,
pursued by one of these monsters, took advantage of this propensity to
save his life. His rifle was unloaded. Of course he had not wounded
the bear, or his stratagem would have been in vain. Throwing himself on
the ground, the hunter closed his eyes, and stretching out his limbs,
feigned to be dead. It must have been a fearful moment when he felt the
bear lift up his body in his claws to carry him away to the
neighbourhood of his lair. The bear having dug a hole, placed him in
it, and covered him carefully with leaves, grass, and bushes. An
Indian, or hardy backwoodsman, could alone have existed under such
circumstances. The hunter waited anxiously till he heard loud snores
proceeding from the cavern. Then, slipping up, like Jack the
Giant-killer from the castle of the ogre, he scampered off as fast as
his legs could carry him.
Mr Kane--the Canadian artist--mentions meeting a grizzly when in
company with an old, experienced half-breed hunter, Francois by name.
Francois, however, declined firing, alleging that the risk was greater
than the honour to be obtained--his own character for bravery having
been long established. Young hunters might do so for the sake of
proudly wearing the claws--one of the ornaments most esteemed by an
Indian chief--round his neck. Although Kane's gun had two barrels, and
Francois had his rifle, they knew it was ten chances to one they would
not kill him in time to prevent a hand-to-hand encounter. The bear
walked on, looking at them now and then, but seeming to treat them with
contempt.
Some years before this, a party of ten Canadian voyageurs, on a trade
excursion in the neighbourhood of the mountains, were quietly seated
round a blazing fire, eating a hearty dinner of deer, when a large,
half-famished bear cautiously approached the group from behind a
chestnut-tree. Before they were aware of his presence, he sprang across
the fire, seized one of the men, who had a well-finished bone in his
hand, round the waist with his two fore-paws, and ran about fifty yards
on his hind-legs with him before he stopped. The hunter's comrades were
so thunderstruck at the unexpected appearance of such a visitor, and his
sudden retreat with "pauvre" Louisson--the man who had been carried
off--that they for some time lost all presence of mind, and, in a state
of confusion, were running to and fro, each expecting in his turn to be
kidnapped in a similar manner. At length Baptiste Le Blanc, a
half-breed hunter, seized his gun, and was in the act of firing at the
bear, when he was stopped by some of the others, who told him that he
would inevitably kill their friend, owing to the position he was then
in. During this parley, Bruin, relaxing his grasp of the captive, whom
he kept securely under him, very leisurely began picking the bone the
latter had dropped. Once or twice Louisson attempted to escape, which
only caused the bear to watch him more closely. On his making another
attempt, the bear again seized him round the waist, and commenced giving
him one of those dreadful embraces which generally end in death. The
poor fellow was now in great agony, and gave way to the most pitiful
screams. Observing Baptiste with his gun ready, anxiously watching a
safe opportunity to fire, he cried out, "Tire! tire! mon cher frere, si
tu m'aimes! A la tete! a la tete!" This was enough for Le Blanc, who
instantly let fire, and hit the bear over the right temple. He fell;
and at the same moment dropped Louisson. He gave him an ugly claw along
the face, however, which for some time afterwards spoiled his beauty.
After he had tired, Le Blanc darted to his companion's side, and with
his _couteau de chasse_ quickly finished the sufferings of the
man-stealer, and rescued his friend from impending death. On skinning
the bear, scarcely any meat was found on his bones, showing that it was
in a fit of hungry desperation that he had thus made one of the boldest
attempts at kidnapping over heard of in the legends of ursine courage.