214 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



had no idea of what a pistol can do. Not an hour later, still 

 before the longed-for breakfast, we spotted a big bear on a 

 floe to windward, just five minutes after our watch was up, 

 so it came in the watch of Don Luis Velasquez, who came 

 on at nine o'clock. 



It was fascinating, watching the great beast with the 

 glass as it sauntered to and fro on the floe, a seal lay on the 

 floe not far out of the line from windward, and we fondly 

 hoped to see the bear stalk it, but before it quite crossed the 

 line of scent, and when not a hundred yards from the seal, 

 he evidently thought he would like forty winks, so he 

 shovelled himself a lair in the snow and turned in, but it 

 was not quite to his liking, so he got up and looked towards 

 us, and either did not see our rigging or did not mind it and 

 lay down again, so that we only saw his great yellowish 

 back above a snow ridge. So Gisbert and Don Luis had 

 time for a tiny whisky-and-soda, but no breakfast, and set 

 out with a large camp-following, and we others went on 

 with coffee and bear-steak, and at our leisure went to the 

 bridge and watched their long walk over snow ridges and 

 wreaths and blue-water pools. The ice-bear looked up 

 when they were about two hundred yards distant and began 

 to come towards them, then thought there were too many, 

 and retired. He was pretty well peppered by both rifles 

 before he gave in, fifteen to twenty-five shots we heard the 

 account varies, but he was hit several times. When you are 

 by yourself, or with only another man, the bear will face you 

 and come to the attack, so you get a better chance than when 

 it is inclined to retire, as it did in this case. This was another 

 male of large size. I made a jotting of him before he yawned 

 and lay down to sleep, he probably had breakfasted at 

 least he did not notice the seal distant from him about 

 twenty yards. 



There is much bumping to-day floes are heavy and close 

 and we have to charge some which makes the splinters fly 

 from our sheathing of hard wood. It seems more hopeless 

 than ever to reach the North Greenland coast. The floes are 

 so large and numerous, we fear that even did we do so, a little 

 easterly wind might hem us in on the coast against land ice, 



