470 TJIE GEKMAX ATIOTIC EXPEDITION. 



lucifer-matclies under Lis nose, an insult wliicli lie mag- 

 nanimously forgave, and disappeared at once. 



Our first meeting with one was on the 4th of August, 

 among the pack-ice, the day before we landed in Green- 

 land. We had laid to by a large ice-floe, when about 

 300 steps from us we saw two bears. The burning of 

 seals' fat had drawn their attention, for their black nozzles 

 were high in the air, though they were shy of approach- 

 ing the ship. Copeland, Sengstacke, and Payer got into 

 the boat, and under cover of the steep floe, rowed towards 

 them ; but the newly-formed ice, which filled a creek in 

 the floe, only admitted of Payer's landing. He shot 

 hurriedly and missed, and they at once disappeared 

 among the hummocks. 



It is not advisable to approach such a powerful enemy, 

 unless he is completely disabled. "We met with bears 

 which stood as firm as a rock against the shot, although 

 at every bullet they quivered violently, and streams of 

 blood flowed from them.* 



Yoid of all fat, and hungry, these beasts of prey 

 haunted the coast, until upon discovering the ship, the 

 movements of the men at once drew their attention, 

 and they never left the neighbourhood of Griper 

 Roads (the name of the winter harbour). Whoever 

 went into the open air, though only a few steps from 

 the ship, during the long polar night, required his 

 gun at half-cock. One night the engineer, as he came 

 on deck, heard a great rustle ; and in the morning foot- 



* It will be interesting to notice that the bear killed on the 7th of 

 July, after having a ball -j*g lb. through both lungs and the thickest 

 part of the heart, ran forward with powerful leaps for at least sixty 

 yards before it fell dead. 



