THE WHITE BEAR. 363 



gards size, more closely resembles the last-mentioned 

 species, as it does also in the shape of the crown — but it 

 must be unsafe from a single specimen of the molar in 

 question to attempt to identify them. The former exist- 

 ence of the polar bear on the coasli of Maine is rendered 

 quite probable .by the fact that the tusk of a walrus has 

 actually been found at Gardiner." 



That the white bear formerly was an inhabitant of 

 Newfoundland seems probable from the facts we have 

 brought together, and it is to be hoped that the antiqua- 

 rians and naturalists of Newfoundland will investigate 

 the shell heaps, should such be found, of that island for 

 further facts bearing on this subject. 



We will now turn our attention to the former presence 

 of the white bear on the Labrador coast, where the set- 

 tlers still call it the "water bear." We find only in Cart- 

 wright's Journal reference to this creature, but this is suf- 

 ficient to show that it bred on and permanently inhabited 

 this coast from Belle Isle, or Chateau Bay, northward. 

 A white bear was killed in 1 769 at Pitt's harbor. Chateau 

 Bay. There is a " White Bear Sound" on Cartwright's 

 map just north of Cape Charles, near Battle Island. 

 Cartwright's house was to the northward of Cape Charles, 

 in an arm of Sandwich Bay. In 1770 Cartwright saw 

 the track of two large white bears, and the Eskimo killed 

 one the same year near his house. In April, 1772, the 

 tracks of three white bears were seen. In April, 1 776, a 

 white bear and cubs were seen near Huntington Island, 

 and in the following May another was observed. White 

 bears were also seen up the rivers leading into Sandwich 

 Bay, and on pp. 410-1 1 Cartwright describes the habits 

 of the white bear in Labrador, stating that the young 



