SEE AN IMMENSE BEAR. 117 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Largo Bear shot. — Adventures of an Opera-glass. — Size and 

 Weight of Polar Bear. — Stories of Bears. — She-Bear and 

 Cubs. — Break-up of the Fast Ice. — Kill the old Bear, and 

 cateh the Cubs alive. — Shocking case of filial Ingratitude. 



In the afternoon we rowed back along the edge 

 of the "fast*" ice, in hopes that more seals might 

 have come out of the covered part. 



I was sitting in the bow of the boat, and on ap- 

 proaching the west side of the fiord again I saw a 

 dull white object on the shore, and, by applying the 

 glass, I made it out to be a large bear, evidently 

 snuffing his way up the wind to the carcasses of the 

 three seals which I had shot first in the morning, 

 and had left on the ice near the western side of the 

 fiord. The bear, when we first saw him, was about 

 a mile distant, and the carcasses lay about halfway 

 between him and the boat. I was somewhat at a 

 loss, at first, how to proceed, because close to the 

 bear there was a large extent of flat mud and "fast" 

 ice, with several wide valleys beyond, and it was 

 clear that, if we attacked him openly in front, he 

 would take to his heels over the flat, and soon run 

 us all to a standstill, as the bear will easily outrun 

 any man. I then thought I would lie down be- 



