THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 213 



through soft snow. Although I threw myself down and rested my 

 elbow on the ice, I was so wmded it was mainly by luck my bullet 

 struck two inches back of the heart. It must have been chiefly 

 the shock to his spine that made the animal crumple almost mag- 

 ically, his four legs doubling under him and his head resting on the 

 ice. I could see that he was alive, for his eyes followed my move- 

 ments. He was about ten yards from the water, and it is the nature 

 of bears when wounded to try to get into water. My first thought 

 was to prevent this and I foolishly took a position between him and 

 the open lead. 



It seems to me now that the bear used almost human judgment 

 in what he did. Evidently he must have been recovering from the 

 shock to his spine, though he was bleeding rapidly and would have 

 died from loss of blood in five or ten minutes. But what happened 

 was all comprised in less than two minutes. Just as I might have 

 done in his place with only his resources, he kept his eyes fixed on 

 me and made not the slightest motion for about a minute. In fall- 

 ing he must have sunk slightly backward, for his hind feet were 

 forward under him in just the feline position from which a cat or 

 lion may leap. Suddenly and without any preparation he launched 

 himself directly towards me. I had my rifle pointed and it must 

 have been almost automatically that I pulled the trigger. Had not 

 the bullet pierced the brain I am afraid it would have gone badly 

 with me, for as it was he covered about three and a half of the five 

 yards between us, and collapsed so near that blood spattered my 

 boots. 



This incident increased a good deal my respect for the intelli- 

 gence of polar bears, which has been growing with every encounter. 

 Their unwary approach to a party of men and dogs must not be 

 set down against them as lack of intelligence. They simply have 

 not the data upon which to reason, for they never before have en- 

 countered any dangerous animal upon the ice. We estimated the 

 age of this bear at about four years, although I have no accurate 

 knowledge upon which to calculate the age of bears. He was not 

 fat but weighed seven or eight hundred pounds, the meat being 

 about the equivalent of that of four seals. It seemed likely that 

 bears would continue to come and evidently it was an economy of 

 ammunition to kill them for meat, but their lack of fat made 

 it necessary to continue seal hunting for the sake of the blubber. 



Forced wintering on the ice would mean that blubber would be 

 more necessary than meat, for we would have to depend upon it 

 for light and fuel as well as food. Seal blubber at any temperature, 



