518 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



Oil the ice as on land. He is found on field-ice, 

 above 200 miles from the shore. He can swim with 

 the velocity of three miles an hour, and can accom- 

 plish some leagues without much inconvenience. 

 He dives to a considerable distance, though not 

 very frequently. 



Bears occur in Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Green- 

 land, and other arctic countries, throughout the year. 

 In some places they are met with in great numbers. 

 By means of the ice, they often effect a landing on 

 Iceland ; but as soon as they appear, they are gene- 

 rally attacked by the inhabitants and destroyed. 

 Near the east coast of Greenland, they have been 

 Been on the ice in such quantities, that they were 

 compared to flocks of sheep on a common. 



The size of this animal is generally 4 or 5 feet 

 in height, 7 or 8 feet in length, and nearly as much 

 in circumference. Sometimes, however, it occurs 

 much larger. Barentz, in the year 1596, killed two 

 bears in Cherie Island, the skin of one of which 

 measured 12 feet, and of the other 13. Its weight 

 is generally from 600 lb. to above half a- ton. It is 

 covered with long yellowish-white hair, and is par- 

 ticularly shaggy about the inside of the legs. His 

 paws are 7 inches or more in breadth ; his claws 2 

 inches in length. His canine teeth, exclusive of the 

 portion imbedded in the jaw, are about an inch and a 

 half in length. Having an amazing strengtli of jaw, 

 he has been known to bite a lance in two, though 

 made of iron half an inch in diam(?ter. 



