368 
A JOURNEY TO THE 
down, where it foon freezes as hard as a board : 
while in that tate, the women fcrape off all the 
fat, till they come to the very roots of the hair. 
It is fometimes permitted to remain in that pofiti- | 
on fora confiderable time ; and when taken from 
the fnow, is hung up inthe open air. The more 
intenfe the froft, the greater is its drying quali- | 
ty; and by being wafted about by the wind, 
with a little {craping, it in time becomes perfect- _ 
ly fupple, and both pelt and hair beautifully 
white. Drying deer, beaver, and otter fkins, in 
this manner render their pelts very white, but 
not fupple; probably owing to the clofe texture 
and thicknefs of their fkins; whereas the fkin of 
the bear, though fo large an animal, is remarka- 
bly thin and fpungy*. 
BLack. 
* It is rather fingular that the Polar Bears are feldom found on the land 
during the Winter, on which account it is fuppofed they go out on the 
ice, and keep near the edge of the water during that feafon, while the fe- 
males that are pregnant feek thelter at the fkirts of the woods, and dig | 
themfelvesdens in the deepeft drifts of {now they can find, where they re- 
main ina ftate of inaétivity, and without food, from the latter end of De= 
cember or January, till the latter end of March; at which time they | 
leave their dens, and bend their courfe towards the fea with their cubs; 
which, in general, are two in number. Notwithftanding the great magni- 
tude of thofe animals when full grown, yet their young are not larger than | 
yabbits, and when they leave their dens, in March, 1 have frequently feen 
them not Jarger than a white fox, and their fteps on the fnow not bigger 
than a crown-piece, when thofe of their dam meafure near fifteen inches 
long and nine inches broad. They propagate when young, or at leaft be- | 
fore they are half-grown ; for I have killed young females not larger than | 
a London calf, with milk in their teats; whereas fome of the full grown 
ones are heavier than the largeft of our common oxen. Indeed I was once | 
at the killing of one, when one of its hind feet being cut offat the ankle, 
weighed fifty-four pounds. The males have a bone in their Zenis, asa dog 
has, 
