268 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



with the feelings of the young bears, who appeared 

 ready to melt into oil at this unwonted temper- 

 ature. 



With the view of disposing of these interesting 

 animals, I entered into correspondence with nearly 

 every wild-beast-keeper and secretary of Zoological 

 Gardens in the United Kingdom, but, as usual, the 

 "British market was quite overstocked." There 

 was a "glut" of bears, in fact. It then occurred 

 to me that I could not put them to better account 

 than by turning them out in a large wood at home, 

 and inviting my friends and neighbors to enjoy the 

 Scandinavian diversion of a "shall ;" but the prob- 

 able difficulty of obtaining heaters occurred to me as 

 one objection, and the possibility of being brought 

 in for heavy game damages as another ; so eventu- 

 ally I disposed of them to M. le Directeur of the 

 Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and I wish his im- 

 perial majesty joy of his purchase. I had the 

 satisfaction of seeing them in that establishment 

 some months later, considerably grown, but their 

 naturally amiable dispositions not improved by 

 their being confined in one of the warm, dry dens 

 used for the tropical Carnivora. 



They did not, like the lion in the story, recog- 

 nize and welcome their old shipmate with trans- 

 ports of joy. 



In conclusion, I beg to direct attention to the fol- 

 lowing fac-simile of an engraving executed by Lord 

 David Kennedy on one of the cabin-beams of the 



