THE POLAR BEAR. 239 



after he had done so. They both lay down behind differ- 

 ent piles of drift-wood. When the Bear approached, the 

 boy got flurried, fired, and missed. The father tlien fired 

 hurriedly, and also missed. Before he could reload, the 

 Bear knocked him down, seized him by the foot, and 

 dragged him a few yards, but without hurting him. The 

 old man kept still, and pretended to be dead, till the Bear 

 had gone a sufficient distance to allow him to reload his 

 gun before it could return. As in the preceding case, the 

 Bear, seeing the man get up, turned back; but the Indian 

 was prepared, and shot him dead. "After which," said 

 he, ' ' I gave my son a sound thrashing for not doing as I 

 told him." 



Very few Bear-skins are obtained from the Eskimos, as 

 they cut up nearly all they get, and use them for pads to 

 enable them to hunt Seals more successfully on the ice. 

 The Eskimo approaches the Seal, crawling, imitating its 

 exact movements and its cry. As he is liable to slip on 

 the smooth ice when dragging himself along, he prevents 

 this by sewing a j)iece of Bear-skin to his clothing, over his 

 shoulder, arm, and hip. The hair of the Bear-skin sticks 

 to the ice, and by its aid the hunter can move much more 

 regularly, and can a^^proach close enough to shoot the Seal 

 dead; while, if compelled to shoot from a greater distance, 

 he would be liable to simply wound it, when it would dive 

 into its hole and escape. 



The Eskimos have a superstition that if a White Bear 

 kills one of their number, the dead man's relatives must 

 turn out, follow, and kill the Bear; otherwise he is sure to 

 kill someone else. A case of this double killing rarely 

 happens; yet there are several stories of this kind current 

 among the natives. 



Tlie Eskimos frequently hunt the Bear with spears; 

 and when two skillful spearmen attnck even the largest 

 Polar Bear, it is an easy matter for them to dispatch him. 

 One takes the right and the other the left side. The 

 first hunter merely acts as a decoy, and pricks the Bear 

 slightly. No sooner does the Bear feel the si^ear-point 



