SEE AN IMMENSE BEAR. 117 



CHAP. VIIL 



Large Bear shot. Adventures of an Opera-glass. Size 

 and Weight of Polar Bear. Stories of Bears. She- 

 Bear and Cubs. Break-up of the East-Ice. Kill the 

 Old Bear, and catch the Cubs alive. Shocking Case 

 of filial Ingratitude. 



IN the afternoon we rowed back along the edge 

 of the &quot;fast&quot; ice, in hopes that more seals 

 might have come out of the covered part. 



I was sitting in the bow of the boat, and on 

 approaching the west side of the fiord again, I 

 saw a dull white object on the shore, and by 

 applying the glass, I made it out to be a large 

 bear, evidently snuffing his way up the wind 

 to the carcases of the three seals which I had 

 shot first in the morning, and had left on the 

 ice near the western side of the fiord : the 

 bear when we first saw him was about a mile 

 distant, and the carcases lay about half way 

 between him and the boat. I was somewhat 

 at a loss at first how to proceed, because close 

 to the bear there was a large extent of flat 



I 3 



