WHITE OE POLAR BEAE. 159 



through the snow after the process of flaying, thus pre- 

 venting the oil from turning them yellow. 



Thirty to a hundred skins are imported annually into 

 Copenhagen by the Eoyal Greenland Company. The 

 best are worth from £10 to ;£30. The skins (83 in 

 1891) sold in London by the Hudson's Bay Company 

 usually fetch 35s. to 170s. They are generally collected 

 from Esquimaux Bay, and York Port, and Little Whale 

 Eiver districts. These are of little value, as they are 

 badly flayed, being without paws and claws. 



This fur is usually made into rugs and sleigh-robes. 

 It is sometimes dyed black. 



The value of a Polar Bear's skull is about 21s. The 

 cub is very small when born. 



" In the Eira Expedition to San Josef Land in 1881- 

 82, many White Bears were killed, mostly males, and 

 one measured 11 feet from the root of the tail to the 

 nose. Female Bears ' were never obtained during the 

 dark days. On examining the stomach we often found 

 nothing but grass."— (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1882, p. 654.) 



Dr. Eichardson, in his " North American Zoology," 

 (pp. 33 and 35), says : — 



" The Polar Bear being able to procure its food in the 

 depth of even an Arctic winter, there is not the same 

 necessity for its hibernating that exists in the case of 

 the Black Bear, which feeds chiefly on vegetable 

 matters ; and it is probable that, although they may all 

 retire occasionally to caverns in the snow, the pregnant 

 females alone seclude themselves for the entire winter." 



" Our seamen relish the paws of the Bear, and the 

 Esquimaux prefer its flesh at all times to that of the 

 Seal. Instances are recorded of the liver of the Polar 

 Bear having poisoned people." 



