THE POLAR BEAR. 287 



final disappearance, he seems to measure the intervening 

 distance, and when he next apj)ears it is alongside of the 

 Seal. Then, either getting on the ice or pouncing upon the 

 Seal as it tries to escape, he secures it. 



Seals are not his only animal food, however, as I have 

 frequently noticed his claw-marks on the backs and sides 

 of the White Porpoise. In some cases, the Bear seems to 

 have sprung on the Porpoise's back, but to have failed to 

 retain his hold, no doubt owing to the Porpoise having 

 dived, as the claw-marks extended from the fins clear down 

 to the tail on both sides. In other cases, the Bear appears 

 to have succeeded, at the first spring, in getting his teeth 

 planted, thus paralyzing the Porpoise and preventing its 

 diving until he has obtained a good mouthful. Pori)oises, 

 when harpooned in the back, always swim with the head 

 out of water for some distance, and the bite of a Bear seems 

 to have the same effect on them. This habit would x)rob- 

 ably enable the Bear to take several mouthfuls; at any rate, 

 if he only takes one, it is sufficient to leave a large wound 

 in the back of the Porj^oise. I have seen several Porpoises 

 thus marked, some of the wounds only partially healed up. 

 The White Bear is also fond of fish. 



In HalFs "Life of the Eskimo" there is an instance 

 given of a White Bear having thrown stones from a cliff on 

 the head of a Walrus that was lying on the ice beneath; 

 and I have heard a similar story related by an Eskimo, with 

 only this difference, that instead of stones the Bear is said 

 to have used a large x)iece of i(!e, which he dropped from an 

 iceberg on the sleeping Walrus, stunning it so that he could 

 get down and seize it by the throat. 



Although the Polar Bear eats dead animals, such as 

 Seals and Porpoises, he will not eat a man who has presence 

 of mind to simulate death. Numerous instances are cited, 

 by Arctic travelers and Indians, in proof of this assertion. 

 An old Indian who had been scalped by a Bear told me this 

 story: 



" Traveling by myself, I espied a Bear, and, putting fresh 

 powder in the pan (he had a fiint-lock gun), I ran toward 



