A DESERTED COUNTRY. 



67 



Truly a bad bear-hunt ! It seemed as if the animal had literally 

 been spirited away to the mountains. 



Probably that is what really had happened, or, at least, that it 

 had gone there on its own account, for they are not an unusual 

 bourne for the polar bear, especially in bad weather. One thing, 

 at any rate, is certain, and that is that it seldom hunts or fishes, or 

 goes abroad, in snowy or windy weather. I have gone bear shoot- 

 ing very many times on my expeditions to the Arctic Ocean, but 



FROM STENKJ^R. FOSHEIM's FIRST POLAR OX. 



have never found in bad weather. Like the dog, it probably 

 dislikes wind and driving snow: with wind, in the polar regions, 

 falls a fine snow like dust, which fills the dogs' eyes, and must be 

 scraped out if they are not to risk becoming totally blind. 



We saw not a few tracks of polar oxen, but the animals them- 

 selves we could not discover. It was growing so late, however, that 

 it was necessary to get back to the tent as quickly as possible. The 

 weather, too, grew very bad, with snowstorms and gusts of wind, so 

 that there was every prospect that we should have difficulty 



