In his account of the Indian
Nations, he describes an Indian hunter as addressing a bear in
nearly these words. "I was present," he says, "at the delivery of
this curious invective; when the hunter had despatched the bear, I
asked him how he thought that poor animal could understand what he
said to it. 'O,' said he in answer, 'the bear understood me very
well; did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was
upbraiding him?"'--Transactions of the American Philosophical
Society, Vol. I. p. 240.
Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!
Heckewelder, in a letter published in the Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society, Vol. IV. p. 260, speaks of this
tradition as prevalent among the Mohicans and Delawares.
"Their reports," he says, "run thus: that among all animals that had
been formerly in this country, this was the most ferocious; that it
was much larger than the largest of the common bears, and remarkably
long-bodied; all over (except a spot of hair on its back of a white
color) naked. . . . .
"The history of this animal used to be a subject of conversation
among the Indians, especially when in the woods a hunting. I have
also heard them say to their children when crying: 'Hush! the naked
bear will hear you, be upon you, and devour you,'"
Where the Falls of Minnehaha, etc.
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