ARCTIC HUNTING 17 



approach within rifle-shot of it. I once, however, killed a 

 large blue seal at the fast ice edge, along whose back, from 

 ' stem to stern,' were five parallel gashes, freshly cut through 

 hide and blubber, marking the passage of Bruin's paw as the 

 seal had slipped beneath it into the water. The walrus is also 

 attacked, of course on the ice only ; for in the water both 

 walrus and seal can sport around their enemy with impunity ; 

 indeed, if the professional hunters are to be believed, the 

 former sometimes turns the tables, and under these circum- 

 stances it is often the bear which comes off second best in the 

 encounter. 



Although carnivorous, the polar also appears to be able 

 to exist on a vegetable diet, like other bears. Nordenskjold 

 ■observed one browsing on grass on the northern coast of 

 Siberia (he remarks that it was probably an old bear w^hose 

 tusks were much worn), and it is on record (' Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica,' ninth edition) that one was fed on bread only for 

 some years. From its manner of life this bear is naturally 

 almost amphibious, ' taking ' the water as a matter of course, 

 and, no doubt, frequently making long journeys by sea to 

 regain its habitat, from which it has been carried on some 

 drifting ice-lump. Captain Sabine found one 'swimming 

 powerfully, forty miles from the nearest shore, and with no ice 

 in sight to afford it rest.' No beast on the earth leads a harder 

 life than the polar bear. Relying solely on the chase for its 

 support, it roams continually amongst the ice. Even during 

 the winter it does not retire from the battle of life, like its less 

 hardy congeners, but wanders on through the storm and last- 

 ing darkness, for this species does not as a rule hibernate. It 

 is alleged elsewhere that the female differs in this respect from 

 the male, hibernating whilst he remains out, and the fact that 

 all the bears (between sixty and seventy) killed in the winter 

 months during the Austrian expedition under MM. Weyprecht 

 and Payer were males, supports this statement ; but, on the 

 other hand, the only bears, two in number, which we killed in 

 midwinter (on December 11 and 19, 1888), while wintering on 



II. c 



