300 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [May 



sign language, informed me that nanooh (bear) was in 

 sight. E-took-a-shoo and I snapped our whips and 

 yelled ourselves hoarse in our endeavors to stimulate our 

 dogs to greater effort and be in at the death. Dashing 

 through a mass of rough ice, I came suddenly upon 

 Arklio peering into a pool of water. In reply to my 

 look of amazement, he grinned and began pulling in 

 on his harpoon line. Up popped the head of the bear — 

 dead! 



This incident clearly reveals the amphibious nature of 

 the "tiger of the north." More at home in the water 

 than on the ice-fields, he preferred to wage battle in 

 the water against these strange, yelping animals rather 

 than take his stand on a berg, as I have so often seen 

 them do. His plan for defense was far more effective 

 against the dog than against a Winchester rifle. It is 

 interesting to note that Arklio had the forethought to 

 harpoon first in order to make sure of his quarry; a 

 polar bear sometimes sinks when shot. 



At this camp I obtained, at the edge of the glacier, 

 with a transit, a double round of sights from a meas- 

 ured base line of 2,000 feet; also obtained observations 

 for compass variation and photographs of all the land 

 south. The water at the face of the glacier, which was 

 resting on the bottom, proved to be seventy-seven feet 

 deep. 



On the 15th of May we passed Cape Faraday and the 

 mouth of Talbot Inlet, and camped at Boger Point on 

 top of a flat herg in our determination to find something 

 solid beneath our feet. Covered with perspiration and 

 breathing heavily, we sat on our sledges chagi'ined. 

 Our dogs with lolling tongues could not yet understand 

 why, with a mother bear and two cubs running along 



