Jtt'Keebor's Voyage to Hudson'* Bay* 23 



able than usual. They were brought home, and sold in 

 London at a very high price.* 



When detached from its young, how very different is the 

 character of the polar bear from that 1 have just described. 

 It is then a most formidable animal, being apparently the 

 natural lord of those frozen regions. Every other animal 

 shudders at his approach, considering it as the signal for im- 

 mediate destruction. The seals either retire to their subma- 

 rine dwellings, or conceal themselves in the crevices of the 

 ice-islands ; while the bear, stalking along with solemn ma- 

 jesty, " faces the breeze, raises his head, and snuffs the pas- 

 sing scent, whereby he discovers the nearest route to his 

 odorous banquet." A favourite poet, with great truth and 

 beauty, thus describes the march of this formidable animal : 



" There, through the piny forest, half absorbed, 

 Rough tenant of those shades, the shapeless bear, 

 With dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn ; 

 Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 

 He makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, 

 And with stern patience, scorning weak complaint, 

 Hardens his heart against assailing want." 



They are possessed of such uncommon strength, and de- 

 fend themselves, when beset, with such extraordinary ob- 

 stinacy, that even the natives of the country never venture 

 to attack them but in parties of eight or ten, and even then 

 are often defeated with the loss of one or more of their num- 

 ber. Though to a skilful rifleman the danger is very much 

 diminished, the bear is still an animal of tremendous strength 

 and fierceness, as will appear from the following adventure.- 

 Captain Lewis tells us, that one evening the men in the hind- 

 most of the canoes discovered a large silver bear lying in the 

 open grounds, about 300 paces from the river. Six of them, 

 all good hunters, set out to attack him, and concealing them- 

 selves by a small eminence, came unperceived within forty 

 paces of him. Four of them now fired, and each lodged a 

 ball in his body; two of them directly through the lungs. 

 The justly-enraged animal sprung up, and ran open-mouthed 



* The great attachment -which the she-bear has for her young, is well 

 known to the American hunter. No danger can induce her to abandon 

 them. Even when they are sufficiently grown to be able to climb a tree, 

 her anxiety for their safety is but little diminished. At that time, if hunted, 

 her first care is to make her young climb to a place of safety. If they shew 

 any reluctance, she beats them, and having succeeded, turns fearlessly on 

 her pursuers. Perhaps, in the animal economy, maternal affection is almost 

 always commensurate with the helplessness of the young. 



See Bradbury's Travels in America. 



