The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-23 00:00:00

TITE BEAU KNIFE.

" Some of the Western Indian tribes have what they call
a ' couteau d'ours.' This a knife drawn through the mouth
and grinders of a dead bear—doubtless with certain forme
and ceremonies—and thus receives magical qualities. Such
a knife as this, which is certain to kill, and at the same
time make the owner brave, can only be purchased at a
high price. There is also only one way of transferring it to
another owner, so as not to destroy its power. The buyer
must permit the seller to throw it at his breast like a jave-
lin, and catch it in the air. If he has not the courage for
this, sr misses it, the knife losses its qualities, and the clumsy
purchaser his life into the bargain.
"Of all the aaimale that exist in their forests, the In-
dians respect the bear most. They regard it almost in the
light of a human being. Indeed, they will often say that
the bear is an Anijinabe ' (Indian). They will converse
with it, thinking all the while the animal must understand
them. The little boar-pups are so droll, and so full of life
and comical liveliness, and the old bears are so remarkably
clever and crafty, that it may be easily understood how the

Indians can iznagine that they see- enchanted beings in
them.

"The things told me here about the tricks and cheating
of the bears are almost incredible. But everybody repeats
them to me, and believes them. Thus, a hunter told me
recently of the tricks and schemes a bear will perform when
it knows itself pursued, and wishes to deceive its follower
as to the direction it has taken.
" This is most difficult to perform in winter, when the
ground is covered with show and the rivers with ice. In
summer the bear will often take to streams and brooks, and
run up end down their bed. Tho hunter in pursuit is then
unable to say in what direction it has gone. In the winter.
when the snow betrays the bear everywhere, it has to think
of other devices. Then it leaves the treacherous ground as
frequently as possible, and springs along on the tree stump.
which lie about all these forests, piltd up on each other.
At times, when a violent storm has raged, whole districts
in the forests for miles round will be covered with over-
blown trees. Thus is formed what the French Canadians
call a 'renversi.' Fortunate for the flying bear if it can
reach such a spot. It then balances itself along on the
stumps, and takes long flying leaps Less snow usually
lips on these trees, and, besides, wind and sun melt it away
more easily than on the ground. If, however, the bear sees
the mark of its footprints left upon them, it wilt steer a
zig-zag course, turn back on the same trail, or leap aside.
I was even told that at times Bruin will purposely return
on his trail, and thus produce a perfect labyrinth of foot-
marks, in which the hunter can find no Ariadno's thread.
' II embrouille sa piste,' the Canadians say.
"At times, too, the animal will climb up trees stern fore-
most, so as to make the pursuers, when they notice the
marks on the tree, fancy that it has comae down again.
" I was also told that a bear will wait and watch about
for perhaps" three days before it will enter the hollow tree
in which it intends to pass the winter."

The Hon. Mrs. Norton is so dangerously ill
that very little laves aro entertained of her recovery.
THE NEWLY-DISCOVERED MS. olr THE BIBLE
_FT 11\vtieour lithteSGlNelrml.
Pro-
fessor Tischendorf left here for
Publictu. assurednstru Instruction
nsivaSst.akerteotreacbhuringg,eays:
he Id on
—anAC lhertitsetrmf re:
wou return
was _ the jealousy and cabal he
Nall inhiestwaroulofdPobpeulcaarllEednliinghttheenmweensillott
other quarters. His Sinaitic
in a few months. The greater di? sensabiott. he excited
here, both at court and in other circles, y his Oriental
particularly when it transpired
instance. was made
taeantfdtaacieGnskgoLveirine.meontnwe aascaindemtriecaitayn,feirni
concertt pur-
chase,s cemnol.elsoeu.c tniootfenr,tehdtehfeßroigileae,
sometefor
r
the object
and that photography was about to be employed
to impeach ppeaalac3hogirtaspahgjoae ainadeuvmaleune;anTdhoof
cftoohif
tray ptaar
~hcil n
article
tee Imperial
irinacglrye
with others, published in the (academical) Gazette of this
vague
ue pretensions
insinuations, t o tbeuxttusualfliccriedti,ciosnma.
article was destitute of
whicheired. itTaipsepieteanrecido,rfto account
containedtoftheorganmereliny
hreansdenrornwanryepsliteedpttiocalt,hiass
academical
tavdreasra
it
article, in which he proves that the Sinaitio MS. cannot he
younger than the early part of the 4th century, and his
arguments are so convincing that the hostile critic himself
now writes :—' It was by no means my intention to throw
doubts on the statement of M. Tischendorf respecting the
antiquity of the Biblical MS. of Mount Sinai.' Tischendorf
himself re-asserts that ' in what concerns the Bible of Sinai,
I place it beyond a doubt in the first half of the 4th century*
It must therefore be the oldest now extant in the worn.
The Vatican MS. can only compete with it as to the centrAry
perhaps, but the latter is deficient in textual completeroaa,
seeing that it wants five whole books of the New Testament
alone, and altogether one-sixth of the entire Bible. Mtu
giving his various arguments and reasons, with uumetous
quotations from the fathers in support of them, the Yearned
professor goes on to say that in his own 7th editir,u of the
New Testament the text he has used is confirmeo, in several
thousand passages by the Sinai MS. most ce refully read
through and copied by himself. Finally, la• Airing alread' y
published for the Christian world 10 folio 'volumes with
biblical documents 1,000 years old, he cis' ims the fullest
confidence from the public in the arranger _lents is be made
for the publication of this MS., expre,se
.ng his conviction
not only that the original, many ce.atuY.ies hence, will still
be regarded in this capital of the North as a Christian
national treasure, but also that the tdi /is prineos of it will
be received as a worthy monument of imperial munificence
by all among whom Clgistiati linnwlv age obtaillo."