. Animals in menageries. exterminatingde ttruction that has been carried on against these ani-mals, prompted by the avarice and the vitiated wants ofman, when it is stated, that, in the year 1783, no fewerthan 10,500 bear-skins were imported into England fromthe northern parts of America : this number graduallyincreased until , when it had reached 25,000, theaverage value of each skin being estimated at forty shil-lings. Did the Almighty create these creatures merelyto furnish hammercloths for the carriages of the great,and military trappings for the men of blood ? For-tunately for the po
. Animals in menageries. exterminatingde ttruction that has been carried on against these ani-mals, prompted by the avarice and the vitiated wants ofman, when it is stated, that, in the year 1783, no fewerthan 10,500 bear-skins were imported into England fromthe northern parts of America : this number graduallyincreased until , when it had reached 25,000, theaverage value of each skin being estimated at forty shil-lings. Did the Almighty create these creatures merelyto furnish hammercloths for the carriages of the great,and military trappings for the men of blood ? For-tunately for the poor bears, who at this rate would verysoon have been exterminated from the earth, the de-mand, as it is termed, for their skins is now very , Pr. Richardson says, a skin with the fur inprime order and the claws appended was worth fromtwenty to forty guineas, and even more ; but, at present,the best sells for less than forty shillings. We hope thisstate of things may long continue. 62 ANI3IALS IN The Grisly Bear. Ursus ferox, Lewis and Clarke (1814). Ursus cinereus, Des-marest (1820). Ursus borribilis, Say (1822). Ursus Ca-nadensis, Hamilton Smith. (1826). Grisly Bear, Mackenzie.(Fig. 7.) The famous exploratoryexpedition of captainsLewis and Clarke, whichbrought to light so manyof the zoological produc-tions of Northern Ame-rica, first made natural-ists distinctly acquaintedwith this new and ter-rible bear, distinguished from all others of the NewContinent by its great strength and ferocity, and itspeculiar greediness for animal food. It had, however,long been known to the Indians and fur traders as adistinct species, and is even vaguely mentioned in severalof the early French accounts of the districts it this formidable animal there is now (1830) a fineadult specimen living in the Tower menagerie, which wascaught as a young cub on the Rocky Mountains; and,although sent home to England by the Hudsons Baycompany about eight years ago, this an
Size: 1880px × 1329px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorrichmondch, bookcentury1800, booksubjectanimalbehavior
