CHAPTER XVII.
_Dick's first fight with a grizzly_--_Adventure with a deer_--_A surprise_.
There is no animal in all the land so terrible and dangerous as the grizzly bear.

Not only is he the largest of the species in America, but he is the fiercest, the strongest, and the most tenacious of life--facts which are so well understood that few of the western hunters like to meet him single-handed, unless they happen to be first-rate shots; and the Indians deem the encounter so dangerous that to wear a collar composed of the claws of a grizzly bear of his own killing is counted one of the highest honours to which a young warrior can attain.
The grizzly bear resembles the brown bear of Europe, but it is larger, and the hair is long, the points being of a paler shade.

About the head there is a considerable mixture of gray hair, giving it the "grizzly" appearance from which it derives its name.

The claws are dirty white, arched, and very long, and so strong that when the animal strikes with its paw they cut like a chisel.

These claws are not embedded in the paw, as is the case with the cat, but always project far beyond the hair, thus giving to the foot a very ungainly appearance.