THE BEARS 



123 



The manoeuvres of an ice-bear in the water are marvelous to watch. Though so bulky a 

 beast, it swims, dives, rolls over and over, catches seals or fish, or plays both on and under the 

 water with an ease and evident enjoyment which show that it is in its favourite element. One 

 favourite game of the ice-bear is to lie on its back in the water, and then to catch hold of its 

 hind toes with its fore feet, when it resembles a half-rolled hedgehog of gigantic size. It then 

 rolls over and over in the water like a revolving cask. Its footsteps are absolutely noiseless, as 

 the claws are shorter than in the land-bear's, and more muffled in fur. This noiseless power of 

 approach is very necessary when it has to catch such wary creatures as basking seals. A very 

 lar^e proportion of the food formerly eaten by ice-bears in summer was probably putrid, as they 

 were always supplied with a quantity of the refuse carcases of whales and seals left by the 

 whaling-ships. This may account for the bad results to the sailors who ate the bears' flesh. 

 Now the whaling industry is so little pursued that the bears have to catch their dinners for them- 

 selves, and eat fresh food. 



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HALF-GROWN POLAR BEARS 



When young polar heart art brought to England or Nnv York on board sAip t they arrive "with coats almost as yellow as a sponge. It takes a 



week's bathing to restore the pure "white colour 



The Arctic explorer Nordenskiold saw much of the ice-bears on his voyages, and left us what 

 is perhaps the best description of their attempts to stalk men, mistaking them for other animals. 

 " When the polar bear observes a man," he writes in his " Voyage of the Vega," " he com- 

 monly approaches him as a possible prey, with supple movements and a hundred zigzag bends, 

 in order to conceal the direction he means to take, and to prevent the man feeling frightened. 

 During his approach he often climbs up on to blocks of ice, or raises himself on his hind legs, in 

 order to get a more extensive view. If he thinks he has to do with a seal, he creeps or trails 

 himself forward on the ice, and is then said to conceal with his fore paws the only part of his 

 body that contrasts with the snow his large black nose. If the man keeps quite still, the bear 

 comes in this way so near that it can be shot at the distance of two gun-lengths, or killed with a 

 lance, which the hunter considers safer." 



When a vessel lies at anchor, a polar bear sometimes swims out to it, to inspect the visiting 

 ship ; it has also a special fancy for breaking open and searching stores of provisions, boats aban- 



