THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 657 



bear by taking advantage of the well-known voracity of the ani- 

 mal, which generally swallows its food without much mastica- 

 tion. A thick and strong piece of whalebone about four inches 

 broad and two feet long, is rolled up into a small compass, and 

 carefully enveloped in blubber, forming a round ball. It is then 

 placed in the open air at a low temperature, where it soon be- 

 comes hard and frozen. The natives, armed with their knives, 

 bows, and arrows, together with this frozen bait, proceed in 

 quest of the bear. As soon as the animal is seen, one of the na- 

 tives discharges an arrow at it ; the monster, smarting from this 

 assault, chases the party, then in full retreat, until, meeting with 

 the frozen blubber dropped in his path, he greedily swallows it, 

 and continues the pursuit doubtless fancying that there must be 

 more where that came from. The natural heat of the body soon 

 causes the blubber to thaw, when the whalebone, thus freed, 

 springs back, and frightfully lacerates the stomach. The writh- 

 ing brute falls down in helpless agony, and the Esquimaux, hur-* 

 rying to the spot, soon put an end to his sufferings. 



A SAVAGE CONTEST. 



DR. KANE, while wintering in his vessel, in 1854-55, witnessed 

 a most interesting tight between his dogs and a large Polar bear, 

 with a four-months cub that had invaded the deck in quest of 

 food. Hearing a racket above his head, he ran out of the cabin 

 .with his six-shooter, in time to see his native dogs engaging a 

 medium-sized she-bear which was at bay but recklessly sling-ing 

 the dogs right and left. The Polar bear does not hug, but snaps 

 somewhat like a dog and occasionally uses its paws with telling 

 effect. In the fight which was now progressing, the bear acted 

 always on the defensive, and waiting until a dog ventured near 

 enough, she would seize him by the neck and fling him several 

 yards with a barely perceptible motion of the head ; one of the 

 dogs was thrown entirely over the deck, a distance of twenty-five 

 feet, onto the snow and ice below. The dogs were fairly van- 

 quished very soon, when, without a sign of fear, the bear pro- 

 ceeded to turn over beef barrels and ram her nose into the meat. 

 Dr. Kane lodged all the bullets of his pistol in her side, while his 

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