BEARS 67 



the ball, of too small a calibre to break bones, 

 must have passed right into the beast's vitals. 

 I thought it better in this case to follow the 

 course adopted by a huntsman when he similarly 

 wounds a stag or roebuck : that is, not to follow 

 up the wounded beast immediately, but, as they 

 say in Austria, ' Le laisser devenir malade/ 

 Even a badly wounded bear will run so fast, if 

 one approaches too quickly, as to render the 

 hope of overtaking it futile. If, on the contrary, 

 it be left quite alone, it will lie still while its 

 wound becomes gangrened ; peritonitis then 

 quickly seizes on the poor beast and renders 

 flight impossible. Unwise precipitancy had 

 already lost us our bear in the Kara Sea, 

 which I had shot from the bridge of the Belgica 

 at a distance of more than five hundred yards 7 

 when it came trotting ahead of two sailors, 

 who had disturbed it on their way back to the 

 ship from seal-hunting. At my first shot the 

 beast came to the ground, writhing and tearing 

 at the air with its claws. Just as we were 

 assuring ourselves that it was mortally wounded, 

 it arose and resumed its flight. The bullet, 

 judging from the blood running from its head, 

 had ricochetted across its skull. I sent a 

 second shot after it from a distance of one 

 thousand yards. The shot found its mark. 



F 2 



