The bears of Kamkatka live chiefly upon fish and berries, and seldom attack men.  Yet men hunt them for their skins, and for their fat.  The skins make cloaks, and the fat is used for lamps; but their flesh is thrown to the dogs.  Many of the bears are very thin.  It is only fat bears that can sleep all the winter in their dens without food; thin bears cannot sleep long, and even in winter they prowl about for food.  Dogs are very much afraid of them.  A large party of travellers, who were riding in sledges, drawn by dogs, observed the dogs suddenly begin to snuff the air, and lo! immediately afterwards, a bear at full speed crossed the road, and ran towards a forest.  Great confusion took place among the dogs; they set off with all their might; some broke their harness, others got entangled among the trees, and overturned their sledges.  But the bear did not escape; for the travellers shot him through the leg, and afterwards through the body; and the dogs feasted on his flesh, instead of the bear feasting on theirs.

Hunting seals is one of the occupations of the Kamkatdales.  Three men in sledges, each sledge drawn by five dogs, once got upon a large piece of ice, near the shore.  They had killed two seals upon the ice, when they suddenly perceived that the ice was moving, and carrying them out to sea.  They were already too far from land, to be able to get back.  They knew not what would become of them, and much they feared they should perish from cold and hunger.  The ice was so slippery that they were in great danger of sliding into the sea.  To prevent this, they stuck their long poles deep into the ice, and tied themselves to the poles.  They were driven about for many days; but one morning,—­to their great joy, they found they were close to the shore.  They did not forget to praise God for so mercifully saving their lives; though they were so weak from want of food, as scarcely to be able to creep ashore.

CHARACTER.—­The Kamkatdales are generous and grateful.  A poor family will sometimes receive another family into the house for six weeks; and when the food is nearly gone, the generous host, not liking to tell his visitors of it, serves up a dish of different sorts of meat and vegetables, mixed together; the visitors know this is a sign that the food is almost exhausted, and they take their leave.

Did I say the Kamkatdales are grateful?  I will give you an instance of their gratitude.  A traveller met a poor boy.  He remembered his face, and said, “I think I have seen you before.”  “You have,” said the boy; “I rowed you down the river last summer, and you were so kind as to give me a skin, and some flints; and now I have brought the skin of a sable as a present for you.”  The traveller, perceiving the boy had no shirt, and that his skin dress was tattered, refused the present; but seeing the boy was going away in tears, he called him back, and accepted it.  A Chinese servant, who was standing by, pitied so much the ragged condition of the boy, that he gave him one of his own thin nankin shirts.