CARNARIA. CARNIVORA. 51 



rapid motion in the water, which may justly be 

 called its home. Navigating the dreary waters of 

 the Frozen Ocean, the Polar Bear may often be 

 seen, a solitary voyager, on one of the fantastic ice- 

 bergs that frown on those cheerless wastes. More 

 carnivorous than most of its congeners, it watches for 

 the floating carcases of whales and seals; on which 

 it subsists if possible, but in case of necessity it will 

 pursue living seals, or even the arrowy tribes of 

 fishes ; and as an instance of its skill and speed in 

 this latter pursuit, Cartwright records having seen 

 one catch a salmon by diving after it. Its size, 

 strength, and ferocity, have been very much over- 

 rated ; from the narratives of the earlier navigators 

 it was considered as scarcely less formidable than the 

 Lion ; and some talk of it as exceeding twenty feet 

 in length. In fact, it is but little larger than the 

 common Brown Bear, and perhaps not more ferocious, 

 excepting inasmuch as it may be rendered savage 

 by the greater frequency of hunger. In colour it 

 is white, with a yellowish tinge in parts ; which is 

 also the colour of a species recently discovered in 

 Mount Lebanon, the Syrian Bear, (U. Syriacus,) 

 probably the Bear so often mentioned in the Old 

 Testament. 



The most formidable of the genus appears to be 

 the Grizzly Bear, (U.Ferox,) a denizen of the Rocky 

 Mountains in North America. He is twice as large 

 as the common Bear, his fur is blackish, grizzled 

 wich grey, his feet and claws are of immense size. 

 The latter are indeed terrific weapons, long, sharp, 



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