T H E W H I T E, O R 217 



of their defcriptions are fo complete as to enable 

 us to afcertaiii whether it differs in fpecies from 

 the common bear. If what they have faid, how- 

 ever, be exad, it is probably a diftincl fpecies. 

 Bur, as we knew that the wolf varies in differ- 

 ' ent climates, fome of them being black, others 

 brown, others white, and others variegated, co- 

 lour is a characSler of no value in conllituting 

 different fpecies. I faw two fmall bears which 

 had been brought from Ruffia, and were entire- 

 ly white * ; and yet they were unqueRionably 

 of the fame fpecies with our Alpine bears. Thefe 

 animals likewife vary greatly in fize. As they 

 live long, and become very thick and fat in 

 places where they have plenty of nourilliment, 

 and are not difturbed, the character drawn frona 

 magnitude is equivocal. Hence we are not au- 

 thorifed to conclude, that the bear of the nor- 

 thern feas is a peculiar fpecies, folely bccaufe he 



is 



Orength. It grows to a vafl fize, the Ikins of fome being 

 thirteen feet long ; Pennant's Synopf. of quad. p. 192. 



White bear; Martin's Spitzbergen, p. 100. Egede, Green!, 

 p. 59. Ellis's voy. p. 41, Crcintz, Greenl. vol. 1. p. 73. Barcntz's 

 'joy. p 18. «W4J. La Hontun's voy. vol. I. p. 23J. Catejbys 

 Carolina, a pp. p. 26. 



Urfus albus Martenfii ; Kleiv. quad. p. 82. 



L'Oursblanc ; Briljan. quad. p. 128. 



* We find white land-bears not only in Ruffia, but in Po- 

 land, Siberia, and Tartary. The mountains of Great Tar- 

 tary furniih vaft numbers of white bears ; Relat. de Grande 

 Tartarie, p. 8. Thefe mountain bears do not frequent the fea, 

 and yet they are white. This colour, therefore, fcems rather 

 t^ proceed from the difference of climate than from that ot 

 the element inhabited by thefe animals. 



