Trail and Camp-Fire 



The polar bear (Thalassarctos maritimus, 

 Linn.) as a rule is confined to the coast, and 

 goes inland only in the early spring to pro- 

 duce its young. At such times it is met with 

 from twenty-five to fifty miles inland. It is 

 not common on the Atlantic coast, owing to 

 the number of fishermen from Newfoundland 

 who pass the summer there engaged in the 

 cod fishery. These people kill all the bears 

 that stray southward on the ice in summer, 

 and prevent any breeding along the coast. 

 To the northward of the cod fishery, in Hud- 

 son Strait, polar bears are common, and great 

 numbers are annually killed by the Eskimo. 

 The Hudson Bay Company's ships on their 

 passage through the Strait usually get several 

 among the ice. The most accessible place for 

 polar bears is the outer islands of James Bay, 

 where the animals are seldom hunted. In this 

 locality I killed four bears during the summer 

 of 1887, besides seeing several others. Moose 

 factory may be reached by a canoe trip of a 

 week or ten days from the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, and arrangements for boats could be 

 made with the Hudson Bay Company, so that 

 the islands might be visited, and the round trip 

 made in six or eight weeks, with almost a cer- 



34 



