d,--leaving the tail, with a considerable
portion of the body, untouched. The rejected portions, however, are not
lost; for another animal, still hungrier than the bears, and less
skilful in the piscatory art, is at this time also in search of a meal
of fish.

This creature is the Kamschatkan dog--not a wild species, as you may
suppose, but the trained sledge-dogs of the Kamschatdales themselves;
which at this season forsake the "ostrogs," or villages, and betake
themselves to the borders of the lakes and rivers. There they remain
during the whole period of summer, feeding upon fish--which they also
know how to capture--and eating up such portions as have been refused by
the bears. In fact, this is the only food which these poor dogs can
get; and, as they are not needed during the summer season, they do not
think of returning home until frost sets in. Then, strange to say, one
and all of them go voluntarily back, and surrender themselves up to
their old masters--hard taskmasters too, who not only work them like
slaves, but half starve them throughout the whole winter. This
voluntary submission to their "yoke" has been quoted as an illustration
of the high training and faithful disposition of the Kamschatkan dogs;
but it has its origin in a fur different motive than that of mere
fidelity. Their return to the snug shelter of the _balagan_ is simply
an instinct of self-preservation: for the sagacious animals well know,
that in winter the lakes and streams will be completely frozen over, and
were they to remain abroad, they would absolutely perish either from
hunger or cold. Even the wretched winter allowance of heads and
entrails of fish--the only crumbs that fall to their share--is better
than nothing at all; which would be their portion were they to remain
abroad among the bare snow-clad hills and valleys of Kamschatka. The
Kamschatdales have various modes of taking the bear. In early winter
they sometimes find his track in the snow; and then pursue him with a
gun and a bear-spear, killing him as they best can. Later still, when
he has gone to sleep in his den, he is often found--by similar
indications as those which guide the Laplanders, North American Indians,
and Esquimaux--such as the hoar caused by his breath showing over the
spot, or by their hunting-dogs scenting him out, and barking at the
entrance. The log-trap, or dead-fall, is also in use among the
Kamschatkan hunters; and the penn formed around the