52 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



sun was already mounting the horizon, twilight 

 reigned, and in that twilight the animals 

 assumed fantastic dimensions. Save for the 

 cracking of the ice, deep silence prevailed. 

 The bears in moving made no noise at all, and 

 the sight of the three spectral figures, sliding 

 noiselessly to and fro amid the hummocks, 

 would have delighted the soul of an artist. It 

 certainly gave me more pleasure to watch 

 than to shoot them ! 



When the ice-field on which the bear is 

 sighted is a small one, an attempt is made to 

 frighten the animal. Surrounded by water, 

 terrified by the man, the bear in desperation 

 plunges into the sea, and from that moment 

 it is lost. The men follow it in a boat, and a 

 ball in the beast's brain terminates the affair. 

 There is no danger of losing it, because the 

 carcass of a bear does not sink unless the animal 

 is exceptionally thin. 



To come to close quarters with a bear on an 

 ice-field is a very difficult matter. It takes to 

 flight as the boat approaches the ice. Some- 

 times it sets its course along the edge of the ice, 

 and then, if it encounters an ice-cape, instead of 

 avoiding it, it enters the water and is easily slain. 

 If, on the contrary, it makes for the interior, to 

 try and overtake it is useless. Above all, this is 



