60 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



unnatural. None the less, we remained for a con- 

 siderable time on the bridge admiring the beauty 

 of the view. I think I have never seen such color- 

 ation as on that night. The large ice hummocks 

 were tinted to rose, resembling the sand dunes 

 of a desert or the Gordas Arenas of Andalusia. 

 Above, the western sky presented a gamut of 

 greens, and behind us, from the bosom of the 

 dark restless sea, rose plain against the sky a 

 series of ice-floes which the sun kissed to pure 

 silver. Seals came to the surface about the 

 ship, but as they were small we made no 

 attempt to capture them. Altogether it was a 

 spectacle never to be forgotten. 



During our absence an oceanographical ex- 

 amination had been made : soundings and 

 temperatures had been taken, fish examined, 

 etc. For all of us the day had been interesting, 

 but I retired regretting the bear skin I had lost. 

 Never since that occasion have I attempted to 

 shoot a bear in the same way. When a bear 

 has not approached sufficiently near to permit 

 me to fire from the deck, I have always landed 

 men to corner it and force it into the sea. 



The most efficacious way of hunting bears 

 in the ice-field or over land ice is to set dogs after 

 them in the spring, when daylight reigns, and 

 the snow holds well. Many are the bears 



