THE POLAR BEAR: 
Ursus MARITIMUS. ERxtu. 
Were we to judge of the magnitude and ferocity of 
the Polar Bear from the relations of the older navi- 
gators alone, we should be compelled to regard it as 
the most tremendous beast of prey in existence. Later 
and more accurate observations have, however, taught 
us that the statements which formerly passed current 
with respect to it were, to say the least, grossly exag- 
gerated; the terrors of the writers having obscured 
their judgment, or their attachment to the marvellous 
having superseded their love of truth. Thus when we 
are told by Gerard de Veer that the skin of one killed 
by him and his comrades measured twenty-three feet in 
length ; by Heemskirk, another of the same party, that 
they were frequently attacked by the bears, which 
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