POLAR BEAR AT HERALD ISLAND 119 



remained there we might readily sail by and miss them. 

 Probably on this account we passed unknowingly many 

 more than we saw. Unless in motion they were very 

 difficult to make out, for the fur was the exact coloring 

 of many a patch of soiled ice. The black nose was a 

 fairly convincing mark for distinguishing them. 



The polar bear is found everywhere near land north 

 of Asia and America, principally on the coasts and 

 islands which are surrounded by drift ice, and even on 

 ice-fields far out at sea, where he enjoys his best hunting. 



Cagni found a bear 120 miles from land and Nansen, 

 during his long drift in the "Fram" and his sledge jour- 

 ney, reported bears at great distances. Several were seen 

 upwards of 100 miles from the islands of New Siberia, 

 one 150 miles north of Spitzbergen, one 200 miles north- 

 west of Franz Josef Land, one 230 miles northwest of 

 Franz Josef Land and 210 miles north of Spitzbergen. 

 A solitary wanderer was foimd 270 miles north of Cape 

 Chelyuskin, the nearest land then known, but new 

 islands were discovered in 1913 stretching northward 

 from this point, which greatly reduce the actual distance 

 of that bear from his home on soUd ground. Nansen 

 also saw fresh fox tracks 200 miles northwest of Franz 

 Josef Land. 



A male and female, sometimes accompanied by one 

 or two large cubs, make extended excursions together, 

 but larger bands are not often seen. Their principal 

 food is seal and young walrus and it is thought that they 

 also consume large quantities of seaweed, grass and 

 lichens. 



One explorer writes : 



"We saw a bear hunting a seal; the bear followed 

 the edge of the ice-field, hiding itself as much as possible, 



