DRIFTING IN ICE OFF HERALD ISLAND. 129 



give the coup de grace to the bear entangled with the 

 trap. 



Instead of three bears there were but two, a male 

 and a female. The male had only one toe of the left 

 forefoot caught, and yet had managed to break the 

 trap adrift and carry it away without dragging his toe 

 off. He might have left us to make a longer chase 

 had not the chain caught between two small hummocks 

 and anchored him. The female made no attempt to 

 desert him, but ran ahead and back to him as if to coax 

 him on. Upon sighting us both rose on their hind legs 

 and howled dolefully, but the thing w^as soon over. 

 Chipp and Dunbar wdth Winchesters, and Melville with 

 his Remington, left me only a finishing shot at one bear. 



Hoping that we might get a sight of the third bear 

 whose tracks we had seen, Melville and I remained 

 with the dead, while Chipp and Dunbar returned to 

 the ship to send out men and sleds to carry back the 

 prize. They left us at 11.30 and reached the ship at 

 12.45. At 2.25 three sleds came out to us, and nearly 

 all hands accompanied them, the afternoon being turned 

 into a holiday for the crew. We quickly rigged up 

 sheers and weighed our bears. The male weighed 580 

 lbs. and the female 422 lbs. Next we had the two 

 bears photographed by Mr. Collins, and then they were 

 skinned, cut open and dressed, and the meat and skins 

 loaded on two sleds, our beam scale, sheer legs, and 

 photographic gear occupying the third. While on the 

 ground Mr. Newcomb shot several ivory gulls and 

 added them to his collection. We set both of our bear- 

 traps, baiting them with bears' entrails, and after catch- 

 ing a man (Manson) promptly in one of them, without 

 accident fortunately, we set out at 4.10 p. m. on our re- 

 turn journey, reaching the ship at 5.25, after a drag of 



