Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-12-16
BIG GAME IN ALASKA.
killing Two ALASKAN Grizziies-Bssr
Meat Gamy In Fisvor-Salmon.

killing Two Alaskan Grizzlies-Bear
Meat Gamy In Fisvor-'saimon.
Arriving at the camp on Icy bay We
1nnnd things generally about as we had
expected. It had rained, however,
great deal at this camp in the wayof
constant light showers, although we had
not had a single shower even on the trip
inland. the equivalents being fogs and
clouds In the upper strata of the atmos-
phere. Dalton, the keeper Of the camp
during our absence, had succeeded in
killing two Alaskan grizzly bears, or
brown bears, / think they are more
properly called (being the northern va
Kicty OF the cinnamon bear, so called,
Of the Rocky mountains), the two being
wounded another, q huge fellow, which
managed to escape into the timber,
where Dalton had too mnch good bear
sense to follow it. He believed, how
ever, that he had fatally wounded 1t, but
IL being too dark In the deep, gloomy Tor
ost to 90 in and examine the wounds care
fnlly to ascertain whether they were
fntal or not, the investigation was not
prosecuted further. The larger Of the
two grizzly bears he killed was a huge
feet in length, although no measure
ments were taken, the skin being worth
less as a robe at that season of the
year. and consequently was thrown
away before our return. The meat Of
the mother was, to put it mildly, very
gamy in flavor, and as Dalton was
alone, and the bear cub meat was ever SO
much better, the former was only "sam-
laI h. all, taI Iat al
We had some of the latter upon our re-
turn, and 1t certainly was not bad eating
AT least after our long abstinence from
fresh meat.
The bear at this season lives in whole
or In part on salmon and seal, and as the
latter lives on fish too, Mr.. and Mrs. Bruin
directly and indirectly live great deal
on the product OF the sea and rivers, with
. consequent effect Of not adding to the
flavor of their meat as judged from the
standpoint of the average human palate.
The Alaskan brown bear, however, in
living on seals will not, as far as can
ascertain, partake OF the putrid remains
of that animal, as does the polar bear to
my certain knowledge, and therefore
never has the wild, racy originality in
favor Of the latter, which has occasioned
80 much comment among Arctic travel
ers as to the palutability of polar bear
meat, Ind which really depends on
whether they have caught the northern
bear favored In this way or not. The
brown bear catches its seal on the beach,
but never above high tide; and If the en-
tire phocidian is not devoured at one
meal he is washed away by the tide on
the next, or so covered with sand as to
be buried out Of sight. The polar bear,
on the contrary, catches its seal on the
ice, often staying numbers at a time, IL
they are thick, and leaving their bodies
20 'mellow" in the sun for its depraved
appetite.
1 have also said that the Alaskan
brown bear lives to no small extent on
salmon, which they find ascending the
rivers to spawn in the spring and sum-
mer, and as many Of these fish die in
their ascent and are thrown upon the
banks of the river to rot and decay, this
does not tend TO improve the meat Of the
bear any more than did the seal. These
salmon swarm in some OF the Alaskan
rivers, and q canoe going up or down
some Of the smaller shallow streams have
. rippling semicircle in front of them
about twenty or thirty feet distant that
looks like small rapid in the course OF
the stream, being q curve Of salmon just
below the waters surface trying TO escape
from the coming boat.-Lieut. Schwatka
in New York Times.