ARCTIC HUNTING 21 



ice, before lying down on the spot where the mate found her. 

 A few hours later a south-west gale was cutting the crest off 

 the heavy seas which were rolling where the trail we made in 

 dragging the dead bear had been. 



In conclusion, I may mention a ruse we employed during 

 the winter months to attract any bears which might be roaming 

 in our vicinity. A small quantity of seal blubber was kept 

 burning and simmering in an iron pot, placed without our snow 

 wall and replenished every few hours. Towards the end of 

 February, two days after the re-appearance of the sun, a large 

 old he-bear wandered about within sight, for the greater portion 

 of two days, apparently sniffing up the fumes from our blubber 

 pot, without daring to approach within four hundred yards of 

 the house. At length we killed him, and after taking the skin 

 decided to utilise the flesh, to the sparing of our blubber stock. 

 With this idea, we filled the cavity of his chest with shavings 

 and coal oil, and set the mass on fire. The odour of the dense 

 black vapour which poured from the carcase may have attrac- 

 tions for bears, but was too pungent and powerful for human 

 nostrils. The men were quickly of the opinion that ' bear 

 would not eat bear,' and the following morning we were com- 

 pelled to cut a hole in the ice, and commit the charred body of 

 the last of our winter visitors to a watery grave. 



