64 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



them. As soon as they saw him, they again 

 turned and fled directly towards the spot where 

 Recamier awaited them. He again turned 

 them back, and they then made direct for the 

 water without even having attempted to break 

 through the line of beaters. 



I have had no experience of bear-hunting 

 during the winter, but, as far as I have been able 

 to gather, they are certainly very savage and 

 aggressive at that time of the year. One reads 

 of the adventures with bears of Swerdrop, 

 Nansen and other explorers. Again, when the 

 Koldeway expedition was wintering in Iceland, 

 a bear attacked Dr. Borgen and dragged him 

 for more than two hundred yards over the ice. 

 The savant owed his life to a thick hood he was 

 wearing, which prevented the bear from crushing 

 his skull as if it had been a seal's. The doctor's 

 companions, hearing his cries in the night, came 

 up in time to frighten the bear away ; but 

 nevertheless the unfortunate doctor was well- 

 nigh scalped. 



There can be no doubt that under certain 

 circumstances bears will attack human beings 

 in winter, but only once have I seen a bear turn 

 upon its hunters in summer, and then it was 

 because the bear had been wounded in the belly 

 and could not run. 



