122 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



wandered about freely all day, pursued every bear they 

 saw. The larger he-bears were able to escape if they had 

 only eight or ten dogs at their heels, but if they were 

 attacked by a pack of thirty or forty, they were obliged 

 to stop, and climb up on a hummock, or to range them- 

 selves against a block of ice by way of defence. We 

 thus had time to come up and shoot them from a dis- 

 tance of a few feet. None could escape us. The dogs 

 were sometimes wounded in the hunt, almost always by 

 the he-bears, and rarely by the she-bears. They were 

 so nimble in avoiding the bears' blows that their 

 wounds were never serious, and the doctor's assistance 

 was only required three or four times to sew them up, 

 even later on, when they became more daring in their 

 attacks. 



"We killed many she-bears, often accompanied by 

 two cubs, which from their equal growth seemed to be 

 twins. During the summer we mostly killed she-bears, 

 and later on, during the winter and spring, only males; 

 some of these were of considerable size, measuring up to 

 nine feet five inches along the back. We had very often 

 bears' flesh to eat; the best parts were the heart, the 

 kidneys, and the tongue; the rest was not equally pal- 

 atable. 



"A bullet from a rifle of .303 caliber aimed at the 

 shoulder, or at the forehead, was quite enough to kill a 

 bear; but if they were running away, several shots were 

 required. We never found that the bear attacked us; 

 we always saw them make off in the opposite direction to 

 that from which the shot had been fired." 



Female bears with cubs are bolder than others and 

 more determined in their efforts to secure food. One 

 stalked Johansen, Nansen's companion, knocked him 



