118 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



but very rarely, three. They follow their dams a very long time, and grow to a large size before they 

 quit them. During winter they retire, and bed themselves beneath the snow, or else beneath the 

 fixed ice of some eminence, where they pass, in a state of torpidity, the long and dismal arctic winter, 

 appearing only with the return of the sun. 



The flesh of the polar bear is eatable, and is said to have some resemblance to the taste of mutton, 

 but the fat of it partakes strongly of a fishy odour. Its skin is valued for coverings of various kinds, 

 and, according to Billing, a skin generally sells for a ruble. The liver is considered by the Siberians 

 as a remedy for venereal diseases and inflammation of the throat ; but, according to the report of some 

 Dutch sailors, who lived for some time in the countries inhabited by these animals, and who ate of 

 the liver, the effects produced were of the most disagreeable and painful kind. 



One of the most peculiar characteristics of this animal is the almost continual motion of the head 

 and neck, moving them up and down, and then sideways, and appearing on the whole less reconciled 

 to its confinement than any other animal in the Gardens. It is, however, so far tamed as to accept 

 of food from the hands of the visitors, and, having greedily devoured it, it resumes immediately its 

 restless motion. 



The following anecdote of the sagacity of these animals, in searching for prey, is extracted from the 

 works of the Honourable Robert Boyle. " An old sea-captain told me that the white bears in or about 

 Greenland, notwithstanding the coldness of the climate, have an excellent nose, and that sometimes 

 when the fishermen had dismissed the carcass of a whale, and left it floating on the waves, three or four 

 leagues from the shore, from which it could not be seen, these animals would stand as near the water 

 as they could, and, raising themselves on their hind legs, would loudly snuff in the air, and with two 

 paws of their fore-legs drive it, as it were, against their snouts, and when they were satisfied whence 

 the odour came, would cast themselves into the sea and swim directly towards the whale." 



The polar bear has a great dread of heat. An animal of this species, described by Professor Pallas, 

 would not stay in its house in the winter, although it was at Krasnojarsk, in Siberia, where the climate 

 is very cold, and it seemed to experience great pleasure in rolling itself in the snow. We believe the 

 subject of the present sketch to be a very recent importation into this country, and, therefore, it is 

 impossible to say in what manner it will bear the heat of our summer, but the animal that was kept in 

 the Museum of Natural History at Paris suffered excessively during the hot weather. The keepers, 

 throughout the year, were obliged to throw upon it sixty or seventy pails of water a day to refresh it. 

 This animal was fed only with bread, of which it daily consumed no more than about six pounds, 

 notwithstanding which it became very fat. Above one hundred pounds of fat have been taken from 

 one of these animals. 



White bears are sometimes found in Iceland, but not being natives of that island they are supposed to 

 float thither from the opposite coast of Greenland, on some of the huge masses of ice that are detached 

 from those shores. After so long an abstinence as they must necessarily undergo on the voyage, they 

 are reduced by hunger to attack even men if they should come in their way. But we are informed by 

 Mr. Horrebow that the natives are always able to escape their fury, if they can only throw in their way 

 something wherewith to amuse them. A glove, he says, is sufficient for this purpose, for the bear will 

 not stir till he has turned every finger of it inside out, and as these animals are not very dexterous with 

 their paws, this takes up some time, and in the mean time the person makes his escape. 



Since writing the above, we have paid another visit to the Gardens, and we observe that a pond 

 has been made for the bear, in which he recreates himself at pleasure, and which affords him ample 

 protection from the summer heat. 



