102 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



been found to be poisonous, all the parts of the animal are whole* 

 some. The muscle is whitish, and soft and tender, consjdering 

 the strength of the animal. The fat resembles tallow, and melts 

 into a transparent oil, which has no offensive smell. The 

 skin is very serviceable, as well as handsome, for a variety of 

 domestic purposes ; and to the northern people it is an article of 

 considerable value. The Greenlanders pull it off entire, and 

 invert it like a sack, into which a person creeps and finds a warm 

 and comfortable bed. The natives about Hudson's Bay dress it 

 to a very pliable consistency. They stretch it on a patch of 

 snow, and stake it down till it is stiffly frozen, then they scrape it 

 till they see the roots of the hair ; after which they leave it some 

 time to bleach and dry, and it .soon becomes perfectly clean, beauti- 

 fully white, and very flexible. 



The domestic manners of these powerful animals are not much 

 known. The pairing season is understood to be in July and 

 August; and such is the attachment of the pair, that if one is 

 killed, the other remains fondling the dead body, and will suffer 

 itself to be killed rather than leave it. The females retire to thei/ 

 hybernation about Christmas, sooner or later, according to the 

 season. These are often excavated in the snow, and the animals 

 remain dormant in them till about the first of April, when they 

 come abroad with their cubs, usually two in number, which are 

 then about the size of rabbits. She is exceedingly attached to 

 them, and nothing but death itself can put an end to her attentions. 

 When they are mortally wounded, she will fondle them, turn them 

 over, lick them, offer them food, and pay even more tender attention 

 than many human beings ; and when she finds that all her efforts 

 are unavailing, she moans most piteously. 



The following ,.js one of the many instances of this maternai 

 affection : 



" Early in the morning, the man at the mast head gave notice 

 that t'iree bears were making their way very fast over the ice, 

 and directing their course towards the ship. They had prolnbly 

 been invited by the blubber of a sea-horse, which the men had 

 set on fire and which was burning on the ice at the time of '.heir 



