But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a
tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according
to the method required by the museum.
By flashlight, acetylene lamp, candle light, fire light and moonlight,
we labored. We used up all our knives, and having neglected to bring
our whet-stones, sharpened our blades on the volcanic boulders, about
us. By assiduous industry for nine straight hours, we finished him
after a fashion. His skin was thick and like scar tissue. His meat was
all tendons and gristle. The hide was as tight as if glued on.
In the middle of the night we stopped long enough to broil some grizzly
cub steaks and brew a pot of tea; then we went at it again.
As we dismembered him we weighed the parts. The veins were absolutely
dry of blood, and without this substance, which represents a loss of
nearly 10 per cent of his weight, he was nine hundred and sixteen
pounds. There was hardly an inch of fat on his back. At the end of the
autumn this adipose layer would be nearly six inches thick. He would
then have weighed over fourteen hundred pounds. He stood nearly four
feet high at the shoulders, while his skull measured eighteen and a
half inches long; his entire body length was seven feet four inches.
Pages:
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317