284 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



natural foe. We dropped a boat for the guns on the floe and 

 they soon came up and opened fire at about twenty yards, 

 and by-and-by a well-aimed shot hit in the neck. It is 

 a male bear of great size what an ignominious ending ! 

 But if you only think of the killing part, what hunting could 

 be called sport ? After all, it took Man much work to cir- 

 cumvent this ice bear a ship built for ice work, then the 

 engine, coaling and provisions for a year, and several weeks' 

 navigation amongst the risks of sea and ice combined. He 

 weighed eight pounds short of a thousand, stood on his 

 heels from nose or eye nine feet two inches. He bore two 

 old wound marks on his body, possibly made by Eskimos ; 

 we wonder if it was the memory of them made him go off 

 so quickly; possibly it was only hunger and thoughts of 

 dinner that at first disturbed him, for he had only a little 

 seal's skin inside him. 



It was the first time I had seen a bear look lighter in tone 

 than the background; the sun being at a low angle, the 

 undulating surface of floe was all lilac and tints of pale 

 green, and yellow, and only the raised hummock and pro- 

 jections and the bear itself caught the golden light. The 

 shadows on the bear's body were comparatively dark green. 

 So many people paint bears, and so few people see them in 

 their natural surroundings that these colour notes may be 

 pardoned. 



From one A.M. to five- thirty P.M. I heard at intervals in 

 my sleep my Spanish friends fighting the battle over again, 

 and occasional shots at seals. Their vitality is extra- 

 ordinary (the Spaniards) ; they can talk for hours and hours 

 without evincing the least sign of fatigue, whilst we poor 

 northerners are creatures of habit and feel ready for bed 

 after eighteen or twenty hours' hunting ; and we get tired of 

 talking in a fraction of the time they spend yarning. 



They are rather bull-ring enthusiasts and back their bulls 

 against any bear. Gisbert plans capturing one of these 

 full-grown wild bears that are never seen in captivity and 

 taking it to Madrid more easily done than the reader would 

 at first think, but it would be real sailor's work. First of 

 all you would find your big bear on a floe, which you could sail 



