ZOOLOGY.— ^POLAR-BEAK, 51? 



made such despatch out again, that she procured 

 2400 seals the same season. 



Canis Lagopus. — Arctic Fox. 



This animal is seldom seen by the whale-fishers. 

 Persons wintering in Spitzhergen sometimes find 

 them plentiful, and make use of them as food. 

 They are rarely found on the ice, though I have 

 often seen the impressions of their feet on the snow ; 

 being of a whitish colour, they are not easily distin- 

 guished. 



Uksus maritimus. — Polar or Greenland Bear. 



This formidable animal is, among quadrupeds, 

 the sovereign of the arctic countries. He is powerful 

 and courageous ; savage and sagacioiis ; apparently 

 clumsy, yet not inactive. His senses are extremely 

 acute, especially his sight and smell. As he tra- 

 verses extensive fields of ice, he mounts the hum- 

 mocks and looks around for prey ; on rearing his 

 head and snuffing the breeze, he perceives the scent 

 of the carrion of the whale at an immense distance. 

 A piece of kreng thrown into a fire, draws him to 

 a ship from the distance of miles. The kreng of 

 the whale, however offensive to a human nose, is to 

 him a banquet. Seals seem to be his most usual food ; 

 yet, from the extreme watchfulness of these crea- 

 tures, he is often, it is believed, kept fasting for 

 weeks together. He seems to be equally at home 



