(ursus ferox.)
“the indians have unbounded reverence for this bear. when they kill one, they make exculpating speeches to it, smoke tobacco to it, call it grandfather, ancestor, etc.”
p. martin duncan, m. b., f. r. s., f. g. s.
kings college, london.
the indians with whom i once lived in the californian sierras held the grizzly bear in great respect and veneration. some writers have said that this was because they were afraid of this terrible king of beasts. but this is not true. the indian, notwithstanding his almost useless bow and arrow in battles with this monster, was not controlled by fear. he venerated the grizzly bear as his paternal ancestor. and here i briefly set down the modoc and mount shasta indians’ account of their own creation.
they, as in the biblical account of the creation of all things, claim to have found the woods, wild beasts, birds and all things waiting for them, as did adam and eve.
the indians say the great spirit made this mountain first of all. can you not see how it is? they say. he first pushed down snow and ice from the skies through a hole which he made in the blue heavens by turning a stone round and round, till he made this great mountain; then he stepped out of the clouds onto the mountain-top, and descended and planted the trees all around by putting his finger on the ground. the sun melted the snow, and the water ran down and nurtured the trees and made the rivers. after that he made the fish for the rivers out of the small end of his staff. he made the birds by blowing some leaves, which he took up from the ground, among the trees. after that he made the beasts out of the remainder of his stick, but made the grizzly bear out of the big end, and made him master over all the others. he made the grizzly so strong that he feared him himself, and would have to go up on top of the mountain out of sight of the forest to sleep at night, lest the grizzly, who, as will be seen, was much more strong and cunning then than now, should assail him in his sleep. afterwards, the great spirit, wishing to remain on earth and make the sea and some more land, converted mount shasta, by a great deal of labor, into a wigwam, and built a fire in the center of it and made it a pleasant home. after that, his family came down, and they all have lived in the mountain ever since. they say that before the white man came they could see the fire ascending from the mountain by night and the smoke by day, every time they chose to look in that direction. they say that one late and severe springtime, many thousand snows ago, there was a great storm about the summit of mount shasta, and that the great spirit sent his youngest and fairest daughter, of whom he was very fond, up to the hole in the top, bidding her to speak to the storm that came up from the sea, and tell it to be more gentle or it would blow the mountain over. he bade her do this hastily, and not put her head out, lest the wind should catch her in the hair and blow her away. he told her she should only thrust out her long red arm and make a sign, and then speak to the storm without.
the child hastened to the top and did as she was bid, and was about to return, but having never yet seen the ocean, where the wind was born and made his home, when it was white with the storm, she stopped, turned and put her head out to look that way, when lo! the storm caught in her long red hair, and blew her out and away down and down the mountain side. here she could not fix her feet in the hard, smooth ice and snow, and so slid on and on down to the dark belt of firs below the snow rim.
now, the grizzly bears possessed all the wood and all the land down to the sea at that time, and were very numerous and very powerful. they were not exactly beasts then, although they were covered with hair, lived in caves and had sharp claws; but they walked on two feet, and talked, and used clubs to fight with, instead of their teeth and claws, as they do now.
at this time, there was a family of grizzlies living close up to the snows. the mother had lately brought forth, and the father was out in quest of food for the young, when, as he returned with his club on his shoulder and a young elk in his left hand, under his arm, he saw this little child, red like fire, hid under a fir-bush, with her long hair trailing in the snows, and shivering with fright and cold. not knowing what to make of her, he took her to the old mother, who was very learned in all things, and asked her what this fair and frail thing was that he had found shivering under a fir-bush in the snow. the old mother grizzly, who had things pretty much her own way, bade him leave the child with her, but never mention it to anyone, and she would share her breast with her, and bring her up with the other children, and maybe some great good would come of it.
the old mother reared her as she promised to do, and the old hairy father went out every day, with his club on his shoulder, to get food for his family, till they were all grown up and able to do for themselves.
“now,” said the old mother grizzly to the old father grizzly, as he stood his club by the door and sat down one day, “our oldest son is quite grown up and must have a wife. now, who shall it be but the little red creature you found in the snow under the black fir-bush.” so the old father grizzly kissed her, said she was very wise, then took up his club on his shoulder and went out and killed some meat for the marriage feast.
they married and were very happy, and many children were born to them. but, being part of the great spirit and part of the grizzly bear, these children did not exactly resemble either of their parents, but partook somewhat of the nature and likeness of both. thus was the red man created; for these children were the first indians.
all the other grizzlies throughout the black forests, even down to the sea, were very proud and very kind, and met together, and, with their united strength, built for the lovely little red princess a wigwam close to that of her father, the great spirit. this is what is now called “little mount shasta.”
after many years, the old mother grizzly felt that she soon must die, and, fearing that she had done wrong in detaining the child of the great spirit, she could not rest till she had seen him and restored to him his long-lost treasure and asked his forgiveness.
with this object in view, she gathered together all the grizzlies at the new and magnificent lodge built for the princess and her children, and then sent her eldest grandson to the summit of mount shasta in a cloud, to speak to the great spirit and tell him where he could find his long-lost daughter.
when the great spirit heard this, he was so glad that he ran down the mountain side on the south so fast and strong that the snow was melted off in places, and the tokens of his steps remain to this day. the grizzlies went out to meet him by thousands; and as he approached they stood apart in two great lines, with their clubs under their arms, and so opened a lane through which he passed in great state to the lodge where his daughter sat with her children.
but when he saw the children, and learned how the grizzlies that he had created had betrayed him into the creation of a new race, he was very wroth, and frowned on the old mother grizzly till she died on the spot. at this, the grizzlies all set up a dreadful howl; but he took his daughter on his shoulder and, turning to all the grizzlies, bade them hold their tongues, get down on their hands and knees and so remain till he returned. they did as they were bid, and he closed the door of the lodge after him, drove all the children out into the world, passed out and up the mountain and never returned to the timber any more.
so the grizzlies could not rise up any more, or make a noise, or use their clubs, but ever since have had to go on all-fours, much like other beasts, except when they have to fight for their lives; then the great spirit permits them to stand up and fight with their fists like men.
that is why the indians about mount shasta will never kill or interfere in any way with a grizzly. whenever one of their number is killed by one of these kings of the forest, he is burned on the spot, and all who pass that way for years cast a stone on the place till a great pile is thrown up. fortunately, however, grizzlies are not now plentiful about the mountain.
in proof of the story that the grizzly once stood and walked erect and was much like a man, they show that he has scarcely any tail, and that his arms are a great deal shorter than his legs, and that they are more like a man than any other animal.
