GRISLY BEARS AND TIGERS.
[To his EDITOR Or sracra1es.1
Sus,—To-day, for the first time, I have seen Lord Southesk's letter to you on the subject of the comparative strength of grisly bears
and tigers. In my opinion, weight for weight, the tiger is stronger than the grisly bear, enormous as the latter is. I have seen a tiger, whose back was not much higher than an ordinary dining-room table, break the back of a bullock in Java, probably by one stroke of his paw, and then he actually got the bullock out of the pen in which it was, over heavy rails at least five feet high. En passant, however, I may remark that the bullocks in Java are small ; still, to get it out, the tiger must have taken it into his mouth, then swung it over his neck, and then sprung over the rails with it.
Every-one knows the immense strength, when roused, of the domestic cat. To get a good idea of the strength of a tiger, let him multiply the strength of a cat by as many times as the weight of a tiger exceeds the cat, and he will have a very good idea of the strength of a tiger. At the same time, the size and strength of the grisly bear are enormous. I have the skin of one, lined and mounted as a rug, which I bought of a Mormon elder, in Great Salt Lake City ; the bear, when dead, weighed 750 pounds, and the skin and lining are a good armful for a strong roan; the claws of this creature on the fore-paws are as large and thick as a man's forefinger. I have had a tame honey-bear ; it came from Borneo, and its habits are to ascend trees and search for wild honey ; it was jet black, with a yellow diamond on its breast ; it was not at all savage, and no bigger than a pointer dog ; but I never heard of a grisly bear having ascended a tree, but I have of their waiting days below a tree in which a man has taken refuge.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Thatched House Club, February 12. JOHN FEET.
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