URSUS MARTIMUS. 121 



100 lbs., and the entire carcass of the animal can 

 not have been less than 1200 lbs. 



When he was skinned his neck and shoulders 

 were like those of a bull, and his whole appearance 

 indicated prodigious strength. The people tell me 

 that an old bear like this will kill the biggest bull- 

 walrus, although nearly three times his own weight, 

 by suddenly springing on him from behind some 

 projecting ice, seizing him by the back of the neck 

 with his teeth, and battering in his skull with re- 

 peated blows of his enormous fore paw ; and after 

 seeing the size and muscular development of this 

 individual, I can quite easily believe it. 



One can form no idea of the enormous size and 

 strength of the polar bear by seeing the feeble rep- 

 resentatives of his species in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens, as the specimens there must have been caught 

 at a very early age, and captivity, as well as the un- 

 suitable warmth of the climate, prevent them from 

 attaining to half their proper size. 



I believe Ursus maritimus, in a state of nature, 

 to be the largest and strongest carnivorous animal 

 in the world, but, like all other wild animals (with 

 the exception of rare occasional cases), he will never 

 face a man if he can help it ; and I believe the sto- 

 ries of their extraordinary courage and ferocity, 

 which one reads in the accounts of the early navi- 

 gators of the Polar seas, to be the grossest exagger- 

 ations, if not purely imaginary. Even at the pres- 

 ent day, many ridiculous fables respecting them are 



