Fauna of Western Eskimaux-land. 3377 



Remarks on the Fauna of Western Eskimaux-land. 

 By Bedford Pim, Lieut. R.N.* 



The polar bear ( Ursus maritimus) sometimes attains the height of 

 9 feet, and inhabits the icebergs of the Arctic sea, preying upon the 

 seal, which, with one blow of its powerful paw, it secures and destroys. 

 The bear rarely, if ever, approaches human habitations, and the ice- 

 bergs adjoining the coast of Asia appear to be its favourite resort. 

 Man however finds the skin too useful to suffer the animal to remain 

 in quiet. As even a musket-ball would flatten, and an arrow fail to 

 arouse it from slumber, the natives have invented an ingenious artifice 

 to secure it. A thick and strong piece of whalebone, about 4 inches 

 broad and 2 feet long, is bent double ; while in this state, some pieces 

 of blubber are wrapped around it, and the contrivance taken into the 

 open air, where a low temperature renders it hard and compact : it is 

 now ready for use. The natives, being armed with bows and arrows, 

 and taking the frozen mass with them, depart in quest of their prey. 

 As soon as the animal is seen, one of the hunters deliberately dis- 

 charges an arrow at it ; the monster, feeling the insult, pursues the 

 party, which is now in full retreat, but meeting with the frozen blub- 

 ber, dropped expressly for it, swallows the lump. The chase, the 

 exercise of running, and the natural heat of the inside, soon cause the 

 dissolution of the blubber; the whalebone, thus freed from incum- 

 brance, springs back to its old position, and makes such havoc with 

 the intestines, that the beast discontinues the chase, and soon termi- 

 nates its existence. 



The other bears are comparatively diminutive. The most common 

 is the brown bear {Ursus Arcticus), which inhabits the woods. The 

 natives kill considerable numbers about Kotzebue's Sound ; the ani- 

 mal is not seen much to the northward. It commits great depreda- 

 tions upon the Russian fishing-stations in Norton Sound, and is so 

 daring and voracious that nothing save a well-directed shot puts an 

 end to the mischief. 



Not unlike the bear is the wolverine (Ursus luscus, Linn.), which 

 is also limited to the woods, and rarely, if ever, seen to the northward 

 of them. Its strength is prodigious, and, although small, it has been 



* My friend, Lieut. B. Pim, has kindly permitted me to communicate to the 

 'Zoologist' the following extracts from his manuscript work, 'The Western Relief 

 Expedition, its Objects and Results.' — Berthold Seemann. 



X. K 



