Part 5

60. _The COMMON BEAR_ (Ursus arctos, Fig. 5) _is a heavy looking quadruped of large size, which has a prominent snout, a short tail, treads on the whole sole of its foot; and is covered with shaggy blackish hair._

_It is found in marshy woods of the northern parts of Europe and Asia, and is likewise found in Egypt, Barbary, and India._

The hunting of bears is an extremely important pursuit to the inhabitants of nearly all the countries in which they are found; and in many parts of the world it constitutes their principal and most profitable employ. The _skins_ are made into beds, covertures, caps, and gloves. Of all coarse furs these are the most valuable; and, when good, a light and black bear's skin is one of the most comfortable, at the same time one of the most costly articles in the winter wardrobe of a man of fashion at Petersburgh or Moscow. In England bears' skins are used for the hammer-cloths of carriages, for pistol-holsters, and other purposes. The leather prepared from bears' skins is made into harness for carriages, and is used for all the purposes of strong leather.

Nearly every part of the bear is of use. Its _flesh_ is a savoury and excellent food, somewhat resembling pork: and that of the paws is considered a delicacy in Russia, even at the imperial table. The _hams_ are salted, dried, and exported to other parts of Europe. The flesh of young bears is as much in request in some parts of Russia as that of lamb is with us.

Bears' _fat_ is frequently employed as a remedy for tumours, rheumatism, and other complaints. An _oil_ prepared from it is adopted as a means of making the hair grow. This fat is likewise used by the Russians and Kamtschadales with their food, and is esteemed as good as the best olive-oil. The _intestines_, when cleansed and properly scraped, are worn by the females of Kamtschatka, as masks to preserve their faces from the effects of the sun, the rays of which, being reflected from the snow, are found to blacken the skin; but by this means they are enabled to preserve a fair complexion. These intestines are also used instead of glass for windows. In Kamschatka the _shoulder-blade bones_ of bears are converted into sickles for the cutting of grass.

The modes in which bears are caught or killed are too numerous to be described in this place. These animals chiefly frequent the most retired parts of forests; and their habitations are dens formed beneath the surface of the ground, in which they pass the winter in a state of repose and abstinence. In some countries, where they are suffered to live without much molestation, they are quiet and inoffensive animals; but in others they are extremely surly and ferocious.

61. _The WHITE or POLAR PEAR_ (Ursus maritimus) _is a quadruped of large size, sometimes measuring near twelve feet in length, and covered with long, coarse, and shaggy white hair; the head and neck much longer in proportion than those of the common bear, and the tail short._

_The sea-shores of Greenland, and other countries within the arctic circle, as well as the immense islands of ice which abound in the Frozen Ocean, are frequented by great numbers of these animals._

The uses of the white bear are chiefly confined to the skin, the flesh, and the fat. Of these the _skin_, which is perhaps the most valuable part, is employed for beds, shoes, boots, and, in various ways, as leather. The _flesh_ is eaten by the Greenlanders and the inhabitants of other northern countries, and is described to be as excellent as mutton, though this must be very doubtful when we consider the food on which these animals subsist. The _fat_ is melted and employed instead of oil; that of the paws is used in medicine, for anointing rheumatic and paralytic limbs, and was formerly esteemed a sovereign remedy in these diseases. Of the _tendons_, when split into slender filaments, the Greenlanders make thread to sew with.

White bears are killed with spears; and are sometimes hunted with dogs, or killed with guns. They are savage, ferocious, and powerful animals; and so great is their activity in the water, that they are frequently known to swim over tracts of sea, six or seven leagues, from one island or shore to another.

62. _The GLUTTON_ (Ursus gulo) _is a small animal of the bear tribe, which has the back, muzzle, and feet of dark brown colour; the sides dusky, and the tail of the same colour as the body._

_It is about three feet in length, exclusive of the tail; and is a native of mountains and forests in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America._

In such esteem are the _skins_ of these animals in Kamtschatka, that only the most wealthy of the inhabitants can afford to wear them; and females, when full dressed, ornament their hair with the paws. They indeed value this kind of fur so highly as to assert that the heavenly beings wear garments made of it; and no Kamtschatka can present to his wife or mistress a more acceptable gift than one of these skins. In Lapland they are sold at very high prices; and are used for muffs and the linings of coats. From the skin of the legs the Lapland women cut out gloves, which they work with a kind of tinsel wire, drawn through a machine made of the skull of the rein-deer. The fur is of glossy black colour, and shines with peculiar lustre, reflecting different shades of light, according to the different positions in which it is held. The _flesh_ of these animals is sometimes eaten in Greenland.

It is said to be the habit of the gluttons to climb into trees, and to drop from the branches upon the backs of deer and other animals which happen to pass beneath, and on which they can prey. They also feed on hares, mice, birds, and even on putrid flesh; and are said to be voracious in an extreme degree.

63. _The RACCOON_ (Ursus lotor) _is a slender and somewhat fox-shaped quadruped belonging to the bear tribe; and is peculiarly distinguished by having a dusky stripe along the nose, and the tail marked with black rings._

_This animal it chiefly found in the woods of North America._

The _fur_ of the raccoon is so soft and useful as to be sometimes employed instead of beaver in the making of hats. It is also used for the linings of garments; and the _skins_, when properly dressed, make good gloves and upper leathers for shoes. The _flesh_ is eatable.

64. _The BADGER_ (Ursus meles, Fig. 6) _is a small animal, of the bear tribe, which has coarse hair, of grey-colour on the upper parts, and black beneath; and a long, black, pyramidal strips on each side of the head; its body and legs are thick, and the teeth and claws peculiarly strong._

_This animal is found in several of the woody districts of England, as well as in nearly all the temperate parts of Europe, and is about the size of a small pig._

In various particulars the badger is an useful animal to mankind. Its _flesh_, which is somewhat similar in taste to that of the wild dog, is much esteemed in Italy, France, and Germany, and may be made into excellent hams, and bacon. The _skin_, when dressed with the hair on, makes excellent knapsacks, and covers for pistol furniture and travelling trunks. For all these purposes it is frequently used, as it is impervious by rain, and needs no additional preparation to render it water-proof. In the paralytic complaints of old persons, it is asserted that the hairy skin of the badger, worn next to the body, has been of great service, by stimulating the nerves into action. The _hairs_ or bristles are made into brushes for painters; and the _fat_ is applied to many useful purposes, both externally and internally, in medicine.

Badgers are generally caught in sacks fastened at night, when the animals are abroad in search of food, into the mouth of their burrows in the ground. When these are fixed, the animals are hunted home from the adjacent fields with dogs, and, on entering their usual places of retreat to escape from their foes, they are immediately seized and tied up in the sacks by men who are stationed at hand for that purpose. Badgers are also sometimes caught by steel traps placed in their haunts.

These animals subsist principally upon roots and other vegetable food, which they scratch and root out of the ground during the night. Their dens or burrows are generally formed in woody places, or the clefts of rocks. Though in almost every respect innoxious, they are endowed with such strength as successfully to oppose the attacks of animals apparently much more powerful than themselves.

65. _The VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM_ (Didelphis opossum) _is a whitish-coloured animal about the size of a small cat, but with feet somewhat like those of the monkey, slender muzzle, and scaly tail; the female has a pouch or bag on the under part of the body, in which she places her young ones, when very small, and where they afterwards find a place of retreat from danger._

_This species of opossum are numerous in Virginia, Louisiana, Surinam, and other warm and temperate parts both of North and South America._

Notwithstanding the disgusting smell of these animals whilst alive, when dead and skinned, their _flesh_ is as sweet and excellent as any other animal food. All the American travellers who have partaken of it appear to agree that it much resembles that of sucking pig. The _hair_, which is of considerable length, is spun, by the American Indians, into thread, dyed red, and then woven into girdles and other parts of dress.

66. _The COMMON MOLE_ (Talpa europæa) _is a small and well-known British quadruped of black colour, with broad fore feet, large head terminating in a slender snout, extremely small eyes, no external ears, and short tail._

In former times the _skins_ of moles were in great esteem for many purposes both useful and ornamental. They were employed for the linings of winter garments, and for trimmings in several kinds of dress and were even made into coverlets for beds. At present, although, by a late invention, the down or fur, which is as soft as the finest velvet, has been adopted in the manufacture of hats, they are so little esteemed in this country that the mole-catchers in general can find no sale for them. The _flesh_ of the mole is eaten in some countries, but the animals are too small to be used with any advantage as food.

Moles live only in burrows or galleries which they dig, under the surface of the earth, with their strong fore feet, and they are chiefly caught to prevent the injury which they are imagined to do to the farmer by throwing up the mould, in little hillocks, in different parts of his grounds. The mode of catching them is by traps placed in their galleries, by persons employed for that purpose, and who are paid for their trouble at a stipulated rate per dozen.

Moles feed on roots, worms, and the grubs or caterpillars of insects. They are generally considered to be both blind and deaf, but they possess every requisite organ both for sight and hearing: indeed their quickness of hearing is such that they take alarm, and seek for safety in flight, at even the most distant approach of danger.

Moles are believed, by some persons, to be useful and not injurious to the farmer. In cold clayey land their operations are supposed to have a tendency to drain the soil, and to be beneficial in communicating air to the roots of plants; they are also thought to be serviceable by raising fresh mould upon grass-land, and feeding on the grubs of several kinds of insects which subsist on the roots of the grass.

67. _The HEDGE-HOG or URCHIN_ (Erinaceus europæus) _is a small British quadruped, the upper parts of which are covered with spines, each about an inch long, and the under parts covered with hair._

These animals are of considerable utility in several points of view. If kept and allowed to run about in rooms that are infested with beetles, cock-roaches, or crickets, they will destroy the whole of them. Some persons imagine that they will devour mice, but this wants authentication. A hedge-hog which was kept at the Angel Inn at Felton, Northumberland, was tamed, and employed as a turnspit (40). The _flesh_ of the hedge-hog is occasionally used as food, and is said to be very delicate eating. The _skin_, which was frequently employed by the ancients as a clothes brush, is now used by farmers, in some parts of the Continent, to put on the muzzles of calves which they are about to wean, that the cow may not permit them to suck. Several of the old writers have related accounts of very extraordinary, and at the same time very absurd, medicinal effects from different parts of this animal.

Hedge-hogs sleep in the day-time, and are awake during the night, when they run abroad in search of worms, snails, insects, and other food. Few creatures can be more inoffensive. When attacked they defend themselves by rolling into a globular form, and opposing, on all sides, a spinous surface. There is a notion, but it is apparently an unfounded one, that hedge-hogs suck the milk of cows whilst lying in the fields asleep; and that they stick fruit upon their prickles, and thus carry it off to their habitations.

ORDER IV.--GLIRES.

68. _The COMMON PORCUPINE_ (Hystrix cristata) _is a quadruped, the upper parts of which are covered with quills or spines six or seven inches in length, each variegated with black and white rings; and its head has a crest of smaller spines._

_This animal, which is common in exhibitions of wild beasts in this country, and is about two feet in length, is found wild in Spain and Italy, as well as in several parts of Africa, Asia, and America._

In America porcupines are hunted chiefly on account of their _quills_, which are applied by the Indians to many useful purposes. The women dye them of several beautiful colours, split them into slips, and weave them into bags, belts, baskets, and other articles, the neatness and elegance of which would not disgrace more enlightened artists. The _flesh_ of the porcupine is said to be excellent eating, and, at the Cape of Good Hope, is frequently introduced at the tables even of the principal families.

It was formerly believed that these animals, when attacked, had a means of defending themselves by forcibly darting their quills at the aggressor; but this opinion has been fully refuted. Their principal mode of defence is by throwing themselves on one side, and erecting their spines against the assailant. They live in dens under the ground, and are chiefly in motion during the night, in search of fruit, roots, and other vegetables, which constitute their principal food. Though apparently heavy and inactive animals, they are able to climb even to the tops of the highest trees, with great facility.

69. _The BEAVER_ (Castor fiber, Fig. 25.) _is a quadruped, with smooth, glossy, and chesnut-coloured hair; and a flat, oval, and naked tail, marked into scaly divisions, somewhat like the skin of a fish._

_These animals inhabit the banks of rivers and lakes in woody and unfrequented parts of the north of Europe, Asia, and America: their general length is betwixt two and three feet._

In ancient times the beaver is supposed to have been found wild in this country, and its _skin_ was so valuable as to constitute the chief and most valuable fur which the island produced. The _hair_ is of two kinds, of which the upper is long and thick; and the lower, or that immediately next to the skin, is of dark brown colour, short, close-set, and as soft as down. In commerce a distinction is made betwixt fresh, dry, and fat beaver' skins. Of these the first are obtained from animals that are killed in the winter; the second sort from those taken during the summer; and the third or fat sort are such as have been carried, for some time, on the bodies of the American Indians, who, as it were, tan the skins with their perspirable matter. It is the fur of the first sort which is chiefly manufactured into hats; but the fat skins are esteemed the most valuable in consequence of the long hairs having been worn off, and the fine downy fur being left perfectly free from them. Each full-grown beaver yields about twenty-four ounces of fur. This, besides hats, is wrought into gloves, caps, stockings, and other articles of dress. The _skin_ of the beaver, as leather, serves for saddles, the upper leathers of shoes, gloves, the covering of trunks, &c. The Russians sell great numbers of these skins to the Chinese, but, probably, the greatest traffic in them is from North America. We may form some idea of the numbers which are exported from that country, when it is stated that more than 50,000 skins have been vended by the Hudson's Bay Company at one sale; and that, in the year 1798, no fewer than 106,000 beavers' skins were collected in Canada, and exported thence into Europe and to China.

Besides their fur these animals furnish a valuable substance, which is known by the name of _castor_[1] or _castoreum_, and is contained in two little bags, called the inguinal glands, each about the size of a hen's egg. This substance is of a brownish oily consistence, has a disagreeable, narcotic smell, and a bitterish, acrid, and nauseous taste. The castor which is imported from Russia is generally esteemed the most valuable; though in many cases that from Hudson's Bay has been found nearly if not fully equal to it. Castor has been long celebrated as a remedy in hysterical complaints; and has been frequently used with advantage in languid habits and constitutions.

The American Indians are partial to the _flesh_ of the beaver, and they use its _teeth_ for the cutting, hollowing, and polishing of wood; they also clothe themselves in beavers' _skins_, and, in winter, wear them with the hair next to their bodies as a defence against the cold.

Beavers are only found in the most retired situations, always in the immediate neighbourhood of water, and generally in extensive communities.

70. _The CHINCHILLA_ (Muslaniger) _is a small quadruped of the rat tribe, which has a beautifully soft grey fur._

The _fur_ of this animal, which is a native of some parts of South America, was formerly used by the Peruvians, as a fine kind of wool, and was spun and woven into stuffs of extremely delicate texture, to which they attached great value. Of late years, however, the manufacture of it has been much neglected. As a fur, the skin of the chinchilla is much in request in this country, in consequence of its having become a fashionable trimming for ladies' dresses, and a favourite article for muffs.

71. _The GREY SQUIRREL_ (Sciurus cinereus) _is a quadruped about the size of a rabbit, which has the upper parts of its body grey, and the under parts white. It is found in America, and in some countries of the north of Europe._

The _skins_ of these animals are sometimes used as a fur for the lining of winter garments, and are frequently imported into England, but they are not of much value. As, however, they are very tough, they are tanned and employed in America for many of the purposes of leather, but particularly for the making of ladies' shoes. The Laplanders, in winter, annually make war upon the troops of grey squirrels which are found in some parts of their country. This they do chiefly for the sake of their skins, which they make up into bundles of about forty each. But no merchandize is more liable to deception than this. The purchaser receives them without examination, the skins are packed with the fur inward, and all the bundles are sold at the same price.

In several of the plantations of North America these animals, from their immense numbers, and the devastations they commit, are greatly injurious to the inhabitants. Rewards for their destruction are consequently given; and, in Pennsylvania alone, more than 600,000 of them have, in some years, been destroyed.

The grey squirrels reside chiefly in trees, but lay up stores of provision, for winter, in holes which they dig in the ground. They are extremely agile animals, and run about among the branches with as much facility and security as upon the ground.

72. _The BLACK SQUIRREL_ (Sciurus niger) _is a small black quadruped of the squirrel tribe, which is not uncommon in North America and New Spain._

The finest furs which the Iroquois Indians possess are those of _black squirrels_. These they make into robes and garments, which they sell at a price as high as seven or eight pistoles each.

73. _The COMMON HARE_ (Lepus timidus, Fig. 26) _is distinguishable from all other animals of its tribe by the ears being tipped with black, and longer than the head; the hind-legs being half as long as the body, and the tail short._

_It is found in every quarter of the world except Africa._

Notwithstanding the great estimation in which the _flesh_ of the hare is now held as food, it was absolutely forbidden by the Druids; and was abhorred by the Britons for many centuries after the abolition of that order. At the present day it is not eaten by the inhabitants of many eastern nations. It is prohibited by the Mahometans and Jews; and the Copts, who have adopted many of the Jewish customs, refrain from it. The ancient Romans, however, considered it so great a delicacy for the table, that Martial styles the hare, in this view, the first of quadrupeds.

The _fur_ of the hare forms an important article in the manufacture of hats, and vast quantities of hares' skins are, for this purpose, annually brought from Russia and Siberia. This is the chief use which we make of them; but, in some parts of the Continent, the fur is spun and woven into a kind of cloth. The inhabitants of Dalecarlia, a province of Sweden, set a peculiar value upon such cloth, from an opinion that it is itself so attractive to fleas as to preserve the wearer from their attacks! The Romans spun the fur both of the hare and rabbit into cloth; but Pliny says that such cloth was neither soft nor durable.

In the extreme northern countries, where the frosts of winter are intense, and where snow lies upon the ground for many successive months, all the hares, at the approach of that season, change their coat, and, instead of retaining a coloured fur, become perfectly white.

The chase of the hare is, at this day, a popular amusement in most parts of England; and four or five centuries ago it was so much followed, that even ladies had hunting parties by themselves, in which they rode astride upon the saddle.

It is sometimes difficult to ascertain the excellence of hares for the table, but the following directions may be of use. When newly killed the body will be stiff, and the flesh of pale colour; but when a hare has been some time killed the body becomes limber, and the flesh gradually turns black. A young hare may be known from an old one, after it is dead, by the bones of the knee joint. If, on thrusting the thumb-nail against this joint, the bones are somewhat separate, the hare is young; if there be no space, it is old; and the greater the separation, the younger the animal may be considered. The under jaw of a young hare may easily be broken, and the ears easily torn; the cleft also of the lip is narrow, and the claws smooth and sharp. In an old hare the cleft of the lip spreads very much, the claws are blunt and rugged, and the ears dry and tough. Hares may be kept better if they are not opened for four or five days after they are killed; and they are considered in the best state for the table when the colour of the flesh is beginning to turn.