It is not a little remarkable that the grizzly bear, which was mentioned at a very early period, by Lahontan,[30] and subsequently by several writers, is not, even at this day, established in the zoological works as distinct species; that it is perfectly distinct from any described species, our description will prove. From the concurrent testimony of those who have seen the animal in its native country, and who have had an opportunity of observing its manners, it is, without doubt, the most daring and truly formidable animal that exists in the United States. He frequently pursues and attacks hunters; and no animal, whose swiftness or art is not superior to his own, can evade him. He kills the bison, and drags the ponderous carcass to a distance to devour at his leisure, as the calls of hunger may influence him. The grizzly bear is not exclusively carnivorous, as has by some persons been imagined; but also, and perhaps in a still greater degree, derives nourishment {242} from vegetables, both fruits and roots; the latter he digs up by means of his long fore-claws. That they formerly inhabited the Atlantic states, and that they were then equally formidable to the Indians, we have some foundation for belief in the tradition of the Delaware Indians, respecting the big naked bear; the last one of which they believe formerly existed east of the Hudson river, and which Mr. Heckewelder[31] assures us, is often arraigned by the Indians before the minds of their crying children, to frighten them to quietness. Governor Clinton, in the notes appended to his learned _Introductory Discourse_,[32] says, "Dixon, the Indian trader, told a friend of mine, that this animal had been seen fourteen feet long; that notwithstanding its ferocity, it has been sometimes domesticated; and that an Indian belonging to a tribe on the head waters of the Mississippi, had one in a reclaimed state, which he sportively directed to go into a canoe belonging to another tribe of Indians then about returning from a visit. The bear obeyed, and was struck by an Indian; being considered one of the family, this was deemed an insult, was resented accordingly, and produced a war between these nations."