\ 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 26 



vanced a little further, and shot the bear in the head, close 

 by the eye, which did not cause him to quit his prey ; but 

 holding the body always by the neck, which he was devour- 

 ing, carried it away as yet almost quite entire. Nevertheless, 

 they then perceived that he began to totter ; and the purser 

 going towards him, with a Scotchman, they gave him several 

 sabre wounds, without his abandoning his prey. At length 

 the pilot Geyser, having given him a violent blow with 

 the butt-end of his firelock on the muzzle, which brought 

 him to the ground, the purser leaped upon him, and cut 

 his throat. The two bodies, half devoured, were interred in 

 the Isle of the Slates, and the skin of the bear was carried 

 to Amsterdam." 



Frequently they attack, and even attempt to board armed 

 vessels, at a great distance from the shore, and are sometimes 

 repelled with great difficulty. While on land they prey on 

 foxes, hares, martins, and young birds ; they also eat various 

 kinds of berries, which they may chance to find while ranging 

 through the trackless desert. During these excursions they 

 not unfrequently enter the habitations of the natives, and 

 carry off one of the party. Mr. Howes, one of the inland go- 

 vernors, mentioned to me, that one evening he and his compa- 

 nions were sitting in their wigwam enjoying a social hour 

 after a hard day's hunting, when, on a sudden, they found one 

 of their party to disappear. A white bear had, in fact, carried 

 him off by the skirts of his coat. They all immediately sallied 

 out in pursuit of him, which, when the bear observed, he in- 

 stantly dropped his prey and made off into the woods. It is 

 said that the best mode of repelling them, on these occasions, 

 is by the smell of burnt feathers. During the summer months, 

 being allured by the scent of the carcases of whales, seals, &c. 

 they venture out on the ice. They have been seen on some 

 of those islands at the distance of more than eighty miles from 

 land, preying and feeding as they float along. During the 

 winter they retire and immerse themselves deep beneath the 

 snow ; here they pass the long and dreary arctic winter, and 

 do not again appear until the return of spring. 



The whole animal is white except the point of the nose, and 

 the claws, which are of a deep black colour; the ears are 

 rather small and sharp ; the eyes small and of a deep jet-black. 

 The following are its generic characters, as given by Professor 

 Jamieson, in nis Lectures on Natural History, in the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh. 



Front Teeth. Six both above and below ; the two lateral 

 ones of the lower-jaw longer than the rest, and lobed, with 

 small or secondary teeth at their internal base. 



VOYAGES and TRAVELS, No. 2. Vol. IL E 



