HUNTING THE BEAR 257 



field-glass, over its head, when suddenly it pushed 

 forward its nose, sniffed at me several times in terror, 

 turned, and rushed up the mountain slope. I started 

 to pursue, but it distanced me so rapidly that the 

 chase was soon given up." 



Hunting the polar bear is a much more serious 

 business, as this account of Mr. Harry Whitney's 

 experiences with the Eskimos in the Arctic region will 

 show. 1 " After a few hours of hard work bear tracks 

 were sighted. We gave chase, but they soon turned 

 into rafted, broken ice, so rough that further progress 

 in that direction with the sledges was impossible, and 

 we were forced to turn back. Presently, on a large 

 pan of smooth ice, we came upon the tracks of a 

 number of bears, but all were so old that the dogs 

 failed to catch a scent, until at dusk we fell again 

 upon a fresh trail. Here the animals took the scent 

 and were off on a dead run. It was highly exciting". 

 Not a sound broke the dead silence save the panting 

 of the dogs and the occasional bump of the sledges 

 over small lumps of ice. 



Ilabradou and his dogs, not far behind, was quite 

 invisible through the cloud of steam that arose from 

 the bodies of the heated dogs ; I could not make them! 

 out, in fact, until they drew close alongside Oxpuddy- 

 shou. Every moment now I hoped for a shot at the 

 bear, but disappointment came again. Suddenly the 

 trail, like the other one we had followed 1 , turned into 

 rough ice, and thickening darkness compelled us to 

 relinquish the chase. 



Here we camped. The Eskimos, fearing they might 

 be attacked by the bear as they slept, placed their 

 1 See Bibliography, 7. 

 17 



