222 POLAR BEAR. 



fear of drowning, they allow tbemfelves to be 

 killed on the furface of the water *. 



Seals are the common prey of the white 

 bears t« But the walrus, from whom they fome- 

 times carry off the young, pierces them with its 

 tuflcs, and puts them to flight. The whale like- 

 wife overwhelms them by its weight, and ba- 

 nilKes them from the places they frequent. They 

 fomecimes, however, devour the young whales. 

 Aii bears are naturally very fat ; and the white 

 bears, which live upon animals loaded with 

 greafe, are fatter than the common kind. Their 

 fat is very like that of the whale. The flcfh of 

 thefe bears is not bad, and their ikia makes a 

 very warm and durable fur ^i. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



* This white bear fwam about a mile. We purfued 

 him briilily with three boats ; and, after he was fatigued, 

 we killed him ; Troii naiigati'jns des Hollandois au Nord, par Ge- 

 rard de Vera, p. 1 10. — They fwim from one board of ice to 

 another : When we purfued them in oar boats, they dived at 

 one end of the boat, and came up at the other. They like- 

 wife run very well upon land ; Recueil des Voyages du Nord, 

 torn. 2. [>. ii6. — Upon the coad of Spitzbergen, a white bear 

 took the water, and fwam more than a league. We follow- 

 ed with our boats, and killed him, &c. ; Troijteme voyage des 

 Hollaiidoif, p. 34. 



f When we killed this white bear, his flomach was opened, 

 in which we found entire pieces of the fea-dog, with the hair 

 and fkin on them, which (hows that he had but lately devour- 

 ed them ; Ibid. p. 36. 



X The white bears go in queft of wolves and fea-dogs, and 



prefer whales to every other fifti They dread the whale, 



who 



