BEARS 61 



Swerdrup and Jackson have killed by driving 

 after them in a horse-sledge. 



The bear, after having run a short distance, 

 halts with its back to a hummock and charges 

 the dogs singly. This permits the hunter to 

 approach and fire at his ease. The only risk 

 is that he may shoot one of the dogs as well as 

 the bear. This is identical with the custom of 

 sending a puppy after a wild boar, a method 

 much resorted to in the Foret d'Eu when I was 

 a child. Beaters drove the boar from its lair 

 and a terrier was then set on its trail. After 

 the first moment of terror, the boar, seeing only 

 the dog, and desiring to rid himself of so in- 

 significant an adversary, turns and charges, 

 thus giving the men time to approach within 

 range. 



As regards hand-to-hand struggles with bears, 

 I am unable to say whether they have been of 

 frequent occurrence in times past, but I am 

 in a position to affirm that during the summer 

 such encounters are altogether unknown. If 

 a bear has the chance it always runs away. 

 Female bears in young save themselves in the 

 same way. 



In August 1905, when returning from French 

 Land, on nearing the coasts of Greenland I saw 

 amid a maze of ice-hills a female bear with its 



