440 ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. 



westerly passage ; so, having reached a little below 

 the latitude of Cape York, on the meridian of 73° 40' 

 without discovering any signs of ice, I changed my 

 original purpose, and, altering the course of the 

 schooner, struck directly across Melville Bay for Uper- 

 navik. The result proved the prudence of this change. 

 In twenty-four hours we ran down nearly two degrees 

 of latitude, and hauled in seven degrees of longitude, 

 finding ourselves at noon of August 10th in latitude 

 74° 19', longitude 66°, without having encountered 

 any ice seriously to trouble us. The air still holding 

 clear, we had no difficulty in avoiding the bergs. 



The sea had by this time become very angry, and I 

 was almost as anxious as I had been the year before, 

 when entering the bay from the south. The atmos- 

 phere was, however, perfectly clear. 



While bounding along, logging ten knots an hour, 

 we almost ran over an immense polar bear, which was 

 swimming in the open water, making a fierce battle 

 with the seas, and seemingly desirous of boarding us. 

 He was evidently much exliausted, and, seeing the 

 vessel approach, doubtless had made at her in search of 

 safety. The unhappy beast had probably allowed him- 

 self to be drifted off" on an ice-raft which had gone to 

 pieces under him in the heavy seas. Although these 

 polar bears are fine swimmers, I much feared that the 

 waves would in the end prove too much for this poor 

 fellow, as there was not a speck of ice in sight on 

 which he could find shelter. As we passed, he touched 

 the schooner's side, and Jensen, who had seized a rifle, 

 was in the act of putting an end to his career, when I 

 arrested his hand. The beast was making such a 

 brave fight for his life that I would not see him shot, 

 more especially as the waves were running too high 



