110 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



almost daily saw bears on tlie hard frozen sea north of North 

 East Land. Tracks of bears were visible there in all directions 

 on the ice, and along with them light, sinuous traces of the fox. 

 There were, on the other hand, no seal holes to be found, and it 

 was accordingly difficult to understand wherefore the bears had 

 chosen just this desolate stretch of ice as their haunt. The 

 bears that were killed were besides uncommonly lean, the fat 

 which they yielded being scarcely available as fuel for the 

 sledge-party's cooking apparatus. 



During their extended excursions after prey the male and the 

 female, the latter generally attended by one or two large young- 

 ones, keep each other company. Larger numbers are seldom 

 peen together, unless at places where a good many carcases of 

 walruses, seals, or white fish are lying. 



In former times the sight of a bear created great dismay in 

 Polar travellers, but now the w^alrus-hunters do not hesitate a 

 moment to attack, lance in hand, a large number of bears. 

 They have sometimes in this way killed as many as twelve 

 within a short time. They depend less on the gun. During 

 the expedition of 1861 Carl Chydenius shot three in a few 

 minutes, close to his tent-covered boat. 



I do not know a single case in which any Norwegian walrus- 

 hunter has been seriously wounded by a bear. It appears, 

 however, as if this animal were bolder and more dangerous in 

 regions wdiere he has not made acquaintance with man's dan- 

 gerous hunting implements. During the first English and 

 Dutch voyages to Novaya Zemlya, bears were met with at 

 nearly every place where a landing was effected, in regions where 

 the Polar bear is now wholly absent, and the travellers were 

 compelled to undertake actual combats — combats which cost 

 several human lives. During Barents' second voyage some men 

 on the f^th September, 1595, landed on the mainland near the 

 eastern mouth of Yugor Schar, in order to collect " a sort of 

 diamonds occurring there " (valueless rock crystals), when a large 

 white bear, according to De Veer, rushed forward and caught one 

 of the stone collectors by the neck. On the man screaming 

 " Who seizes me by the neck ? " a comrade standing beside 

 answered, " A bear," and ran off. The bear immediately bit 

 asunder the head of his prey, and sucked the blood. The rest of 

 the men who were on land now came to his relief, attacking the 

 bear with levelled guns and lances. But the bear was not 

 frightened, but rushed forward and laid hold of a man in the 

 rank of the attacking party, and killed him too, whereupon all 

 the rest took to flight. Assistance now came from the vessel, 

 and the bear was surrounded by thirty men, but against their 

 will, because they had to do with a " grim, undaunted, and greedy 

 beast." Of these thirty men only three ventured to attack the 



