BEARS. 141 



The polar bear does not readily attack man, but when it 

 does, is a very formidable antagonist. Unlike some of its congeners, 

 it does not hug, but bites. Dr. Brown states that it will not eat 

 its prey until it is dead, but plays with it like a cat does with a 

 mouse. "I have known several men," he continues, "who, 

 while sitting watching or skinning seals, have had its rough hand 

 laid on their shoulder. Their only chance has been then to feign 

 being dead, and manage to shoot it while the bear was sitting at 

 a distance watching its intended victim." The appalling accounts 

 so frequently given by the early navigators of the animal's strength, 

 ferocity, and daring are pure fiction, or, at any rate, gross 

 exaggeration ; although there are well- authenticated accounts of 

 bears having attacked, the occupants of small boats, and forced 

 them to seek safety by taking to the water. 



Captain Scoresby relates an accident to a sailor that resulted 

 from imprudently attacking one of these animals on the ice : "A 

 few years ago, when one of the Davis's Strait whalers was closely 

 beset among the ice at the ' south-west,' or on the coast of 

 Labrador, a bear that had been for some time seen near the 

 ship, at length became so bold as to approach alongside, probably 

 tempted by the ofiFal of the provisions thrown overboard by the 

 cook. At this time the people were all at dinner, no one being 

 required to keep the deck in the then immovable condition of the 

 ship. A hardy fello\r, who first looked out, perceiving the bear 

 so near, imprudently jumped upon the ice, armed only with 

 a hand-spike, with a view, it is supposed, of gaining all the honour 

 of the exploit of securing so fierce a visitor by himself. But the 

 bear, regardless of such weapons, and sharpened probably by 

 hunger, disarmed his antagonist, and, seizing him by the back 

 with his powerful jaws, carried him off with such celerity that, on 

 his dismayed comrades rising from their meal and looking abroad, 

 he was so far beyond their reach as to defy their pursuit." 



The bear now in the Zoological Gardens, whose portrait is used 

 as an illustration, is a remarkably fine animal, and an ornament to 

 the whole collection. The poor brute, however, with his restless 

 movements, lying down in one place, then getting up and changing 

 his position, or pacing backwards and forwards in front of the 



