72 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



hunter, who, if he only remains calm and is able to 

 hit a haystack at a hundred yards, may then slay him 

 with a single bullet. 



Bears not only feed upon seals, walrus, large stones, 

 and sticking-plaster, but also have a weakness for 

 any vegetable substance which they may come across, 

 such as sea-weed, grass, lichens, &c. ; they are in fact, 

 like pigs and men, omnivorous, and are of such an in- 

 quisitive nature moreover, that in search of food, or 

 out of mere " cussedness," they will examine and 

 scatter depots so that in laying down such a store, 

 upon the existence of which the lives of the members 

 of an expedition may afterwards depend, this contin- 

 gency must be foreseen and guarded against. Their 

 sense of smell is, however, so acute, that it is found 

 difficult to hide anything from the creatures. Gener- 

 ally a cairn of stones is erected, in which a record is 

 placed, enclosed in a tin casing or glass bottle, direct- 

 ing the finder to some spot not far off, on a certain 

 bearing; then when Bruin appears on the scene, 

 snuffing and shuffling about the 'cairn, he will prob- 

 ably pull most of it down, carefully examining each 

 stone, as a modern savant might an Egyptian tablet. 

 He will most likely return often to the cairn, to see 

 if it moves perhaps or who knows for what ill- 

 defined reason flitting and glimmering through his 

 half-awakened brain? and most likely his friends 

 will come with him ; but probably they will be so 

 absorbed by the cairn, that if only they will not carry 



