30 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



dinner. At last the hunters returned with downcast 

 countenances. The bears proved to be only inflated 

 heads, which some Eskimo were using as buoys for 

 their lines. 



In one boat going out to their fish trap were seven 

 men, six rowing, and the skipper standing on the 

 stern seat, steering with an oar. 



Suddenly a large white bear was sighted swim- 

 ming close to the boat. There was no gun on board, 

 and yet the men were loath to lose so rich a prize. 

 Chase was therefore given, and the skipper kept 

 hurling at the bear the large two-pronged lead 

 "jigger," with a stout line attached. Each time he 

 threw it the bear warded it off, striking it a smart 

 blow with his fore-paw. At last one jigger came fast, 

 and then another, till the bear, who seemed only 

 bent on escape, and was now wearied with repeated 

 diving, was hauled near the boat, and first clubbed 

 with an oar, and then despatched with an axe. 



Black bears are very common. They are, as a 

 rule, herbivorous, eating the wild berries, and insect- 

 ivorous; but one night a settler I was staying with 

 showed me the skin of a large bear he had just 

 trapped. He was living at the mouth of a trout 

 and salmon river, the entrance to which he barred 

 with nets. Two bears happening to observe some 

 fish struggling in the net on the surface of the 

 water near the land were, I suppose, tempted to 

 feloniously sample the unexpected windfall, and 

 having once erred, continued their wild career. For 



