66 A. L. V. Manniche. 



manned with hunters. — In the interval some more bears were 

 seen from the ship, yet the men did not succeed in coming within 

 shot of any. A she-bear leading her two rather large cubs was thus 

 seen on August 5'^. On August 11*^ in the forenoon a young, ra- 

 ther small bear appeared, and later in the day a female with one 

 cub. During a short landing at Store Koldewey Aug. 13'*^ I obser- 

 ved along the sandy beach fresh traces of a very large bear, and a 

 little higher up on the island — on a snow-drift — traces of a 

 smaller animal. Nearly all the pools of melt water in the pack-ice 

 I found to be surrounded b}»^ bear traces. Probably the bear will 

 seek such places to seize upon the fishes and other marine animals 

 which are screwed up to the surface by the current through those 

 cracks in the ice, round which the pools are to be found. With 

 profound care the bears had avoided to tread on the thin new ice 

 which covered the upper part of the water here and there, fearing 

 doubtlessly to cut their feet on the sharp ice-bits. In many places 

 I observed on the snow impressions of the bodies of polar bears. 

 The position of the bears and the locality proved distinctly enough 

 that in such places the bears had been lying in wait for seals. 

 Numerous seals w^ere seen almost everywhere in the pack-ice. (Erig- 

 nathus barbatus, Phoca foetida, Phoca groenlandica and Cystophora 

 cristata). 



After the arrival of the expedition to its place of designation, 

 my personal observations with regard to the polar bear were few 

 in comparison to those of my sledge-travelling companions, my own 

 activity being mostly bound to investigations on the main land. 



As far as I was able to find out from my own observations, 

 compared with the numerous informations which I have obtained 

 through my travelling companions, the polar bear in the here men- 

 tioned regions chiefly lives on seals, with which it is able to pro- 

 vide itself at all seasons. Through its excellent smelling sense the 

 animal will also quickly find its way to larger carcasses which it 

 by no means rejects under most conditions. Lower marine animals 

 the bears will seek along the shores and near the open cracks in 

 the ice. (In the stomach of a bear I found besides the remains of 

 seals also some rests of crabs.) The vegetables growing in the coun- 

 try do not seem to please it. Sure enough I found in some cases 

 grass and other rests of plants in the stomach of the bear, but only 

 in such an insignificant quantity that it might seem as if the vege- 

 table matter had been swallowed together with food of another 

 kind. 



Pairing took place in the end of April and the beginning of 

 May. As a rule the young were born in February and March and 



