THE SEAL OFTEN ESCAPES. 107 



close under the hapless seal, when one jump up, 

 and one blow of his tremendous paw, generally 

 settles the business. The seal cannot go fast 

 enough to escape by crossing to the other 

 side of the iceberg ; if he jumps down when 

 the bear is close to him he does the best 

 he can for his life, for if he does not jump 

 actually into the arms of his foe, and gets 

 into the water, he is very likely to escape, 

 the bear having no chance whatever when 

 the seal is once fairly afloat. It cannot be 

 very easy even for an animal of such prodi- 

 gious strength as the Polar bear, to keep 

 hold of a six-hundredweight seal during the 

 first contortions of the latter, and a furious 

 struggle • must often take place. That the 

 seals often escape from the grasp of the bear 

 is certain, for we ourselves shot at least half 

 a dozen of large seals which were deeply 

 gashed and scored by the claws of bears. It 

 is evidently fear of the bear which makes 

 the seals so uneasy and restless when they 

 are on the ice, as very many of these seals 

 in all probability never saw a man or a boat 

 in all their lives. 



When there are bears in the neighbourhood, 

 the seals are always much more difficult of 



