458 POLAR BEAR. 



large and strong. It seems confined to the very 

 coldest parts of the globe ; being found within 80 

 degrees of north latitude, as far as any navigators 

 have yet penetrated. The shores of Hudson's 

 Bay, Greenland, and Spitsbergen, are its princi- 

 pal places of residence ; but it is said to have been 

 accidentally carried on floating ice as far south as 

 Newfoundland. This species seems to have been 

 often confounded by authors with the white va- 

 riety of the common Bear, which is occasionally 

 found in the northern regions. 



The first tolerable figure of the Polar Bear 

 seems to have been published by Mr. Pennant 

 in his Synopsis of Quadrupeds, and is copied in 

 the third supplemental volume of the Count 

 de Buffon. A far superior representation, how- 

 ever, occurs in the last voyage of Captain Cook. 



The Polar Bear is an animal of tremendous 

 strength and fierceness. Barentz, in his voyage 

 in search of a north-east passage to China, had 

 proofs of the ferocity of these animals, in the 

 island of Nova Zembla, where they attacked his 

 seamen, seizing them in their mouths; carrying 

 them off with the utmost ease, and devouring 

 them in the sight of their comrades. It is said 

 that they will attack and attempt to board armed 

 vessels, at a -great distance from shore, and have 

 sometimes been with much difficulty repelled. 

 Their usual food consists of seals, fish, and the 

 carcases of whales ; but, when on land, they prey 

 on deer, and other animals, as hares, young birds, 

 c. thev also eat various kinds of berries which 



