CHAPTER XII. 



HUNTING AND ANIMAL LIFE IN EAST GEEENLAND.' 



The Polar bear. — -'Its aliment. — Migration of the bears. — Natural 

 History notes on the Polar bear. — Its curiosity. — Precautions to 

 be adopted in bear-hunting. — Their powerful vital energy. — 

 Sundry matters. — Arctic foxes. — Their natural history. — The 

 reindeer. — The mnsk-ox. — The walrus. — The seal. — The Arctic 

 hare. — Birds. — Sea animals, &c. 



Hunting often begins in Greenland, where it ends witli 

 us — in self-defence ; but it possesses scientific interest for 

 the zoologist, and the food obtained by it enables the 

 explorer to remain longer away from the ship. 



There is the zoological, the geographical, and the plea- 

 sure hunt ; the latter is of the least frequent occurrence. 



Hunting the bear or the walrus is attended with con- 

 siderable danger; that of the musk-ox, reindeer, fox, 

 birds, and sea-animals affords only amusement. 



The polar bear,^ which, with his yellowish- white shaggy 

 skin and black nose, forms a sharp contrast against the 

 snow-fields at a long distance off", weighs from ten to 

 twelve hundredweight, and far surpasses in size those 

 specimens in zoological gardens or menageries (which are 

 brought over young, and developed under such unfavour- 



' By Lieut. Payer and Dr. Copeland, 

 '•* In Greenland language, Nennok. 



H h 



