72 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



the manner in which it had acted, when the 

 three men first appeared before it, had amazed 

 him. At first he had not suspected that it was 

 wounded, and had been at a loss to account for 

 its surprising ferocity. 



The day had passed quickly, and we had had 

 excellent sport. The bear was an old male, 

 probably the oldest I have ever killed. Its 

 fur was magnificent, the hair being very long. 

 Its head, measuring almost twenty inches, was 

 characteristic of old ma]e bears, the nose being 

 very hard and turned. From its left eye to its 

 ear was a long cicatrice, probably the result of 

 some hard fighting with its own kind. The 

 teeth were very long and discoloured : another 

 sign of age. The teeth of the female I killed 

 earlier in the afternoon were extremely white. 



When a bear takes to water, the course 

 usually adopted is to follow it in a boat and shoot 

 it in the back of the head. In this way one 

 runs no risk of spoiling the skin. This method 

 is practised by the Norwegians, and is one 

 which generally presents little or no danger, for 

 the bear swims straight ahead, rarely or never 

 attacking the boat. When, in far-off days, it 

 was customary to go bear-hunting armed only 

 with lances, it very frequently happened, if we 

 are to believe the older writers, that a wounded 



