464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[J AX. 11. 18fc&. 



themsolves, the: peculiar clothing by which they wtthstaud 

 sucii phenomenal temperatures, and everything else thai la 

 ■ hunter's heart, as small accessoiiea, lobe woven 

 into the narrative at such points fla may seem mosl appro- 

 priate. 



I have selected for nn : > 



"tiger of theice, 'as Dr, Kane calls him. Our fit st intro- 

 duction to this boreal Bruin was in the latter pari of July, 

 in 1S78, •when we encountered the Esquimau of the savage 

 islands, 011 the northern shore of Hudson's Straits, who Imd 

 a few of tli II, aurong other kinds of Arctic mer- 



chandise, These simple natives are cert inly easily satis- 

 fied, or, more properly speaking, easily ciliated, 08 a half 

 tumblerful Of shot secured lour saddles of reindeer meat, 

 while a nice polar hear robe was hud for a ii ill i pltUl 



(one-twelfth of 8 pound) of tobacco and n few charges of 

 powder. Twenty-five musket caps were given for one-fifth 

 as many white fox skins, and many other things were bar- 

 tered lor on equal terms. ] seeuied three dogs- all th -y 

 had brought m their oemian or seal-skin scow— for my 

 party, and when I gave ilicin something approximately near 

 their true value (for 1 was not a little disgusted with trie 

 Shylock manner iu which they ha i been" treated), their 

 astonishment knew uo bounds, and one old fellow so in- 

 sisted on rubbing noses wrth me tii.it, despite Ihe fact that 

 it signified eternal friendship. 1 almost repented of my in- 

 tended generosity. 



Polar bears are quite numerous along the shores of Hud- 

 son's Strait, and as they are ertrenuly aquatic in theii 



nature, bring often found' on cakCs \l 01 10 'bCl'gS many 



miles from J6nd, il occasionally results that American 

 whalers en route through thess straits to their whaling 

 grounds in North Hudson's Bay, or the lfujsou's Bay 

 Company's ships, in their annual visits to their trading 

 posts, encounter Bruin hire, and have many Int. resting 

 bouts with him. If he is found on isolated caKOS or limited 

 floes of ice, his capture' is almost certain when pursued in 

 the well-manned small-boats of the whalers, who nave no 

 trouble in overtaking him in a fair race in the water, and 

 then shooting him. But ll the jje cakes are numerous 

 enough to force the rowers to make sjiuims courses and 

 wide deviations, or if packed very tight so as to ob- 

 slruct them ahogethi r, Bruin generally manage, 

 blanket. If the pack ice is very deu.-,e. tne only m .-thud is 

 the Esquimau one of bringing him to bay by pursuing dogs, 



the same as it on land or uu tnj smr; ice. s i ■ in 



■ In- polar bears' love for tne sail water, that it is a 

 very unusual thing to find them far from the seashore, and 

 the only times that 1 have Vtit known them to leave it any 

 distance, is when the salmon run up the small streams 

 opened by the perpetually shining sun of Ihe short Arctic 

 suinmor, for on the ripples and rapids of these cold creeks 

 Brum finds a most generous commissary department whihi 

 it lasts. 



After the winter has set in and the ice has formed to 

 considerable depth along the coasts, ihe nativ sledghre 

 parties that are then following this shore ice from one vil- 

 lage to another are the ones most likely to come in contact 

 with this particular game. In fact over nine-tenths of the. 



■ ■■ i are thus secured by them. When-inthe summer this 



broken up and driven out to sea by the winds, cur- 

 rents and tides, the polar hear, often follows his icy home to 

 its new abode and it is here and under these circumstances 

 that he is most generally encountered, killed and studied by 

 civilized man, and his habits and peculiarities noted. Hi's 

 love for ihe sea in which he is so characteristically distinct 

 from all other of his species, has determined his commonly ac- 

 ■ ijii. ■! scientific name, i'i-:nx mn riliiung, although the asser- 

 tion- of BQinc that their habit- an- purely maritime must be 



received with some few Trains of allowance, liiiin - ■,- 



is occasionally found inland under the circumstances 

 already noted, and m winter, when there i.t, but little differ- 

 ence between the land and ocean, both ice-covered with 

 their common mantle of drifting snows, these inland e\- 

 CUTSionS are not at all i'iire. I'ne absence of the encounters 



■ ■ , i them arid man in such places is due more to the 

 rarity of visits by tin- latter than the former. It is uudoubt- 



i-rlly the ease with which they obtain seals, the ii i 

 • 'flensed" whaler, or those which have had their blubber 

 stripped liom them by whalers, walrus and other sea-abid- 

 ing animals, that attracts them so persistently to their 

 abodes. The inland country Would not furnish them 

 enough to support their bug i for even a 



single day's subsistence, unless, perchance, Uiey should 



fall" iu with the meet. ■■■■ ■ '■,■■ inland reindeer 



hunters, which, by the way, -ay the Esquimaux, they 

 have beeu known to destroy a distance or' two or tfcree days' 

 sledge traveling from the main coast (probably lhirly"or 

 forty miles), although il may be nearer some of the deep 

 finger-like fioid.-. characteristic of the Arctic coasts of the 

 older geological periods. 



The. winter camp of our little party for iS78-'79 was 

 pitched near Depot island, in the northarmost part of Hud- 

 sou's Bay, amid a large camp of mixed Iwillik, igloolik 

 and Ncl-cbiiluk Esquimaux, their proportionate number.- 



■ mi. mentioned in order, 1 employed tour families of litem 



or thirteen in ail, to accompany uie on uiy propo ■■: mi 



sledge journey to Kin° ■ ■ ■ , ,, ; , large islam! hi 



the Arctic Sea. 



Here the natives reported that bear were reasonably com- 

 mon, and quite a number of Ilieni Had promised thai ■ , i 



white men, should be indulged in some of tins spoit before 

 the winter should wear aw. y. n we would ao ia.upj.ny tliem 

 on their sledge journeys along llieco ist. Tnat Whiter, how- 

 ever, yielded us no sport in mis line, although one of uu 

 hired "hunters, ik-queo-sik, a big rouu.-a _visc,"niluii of fully 

 six feet iu height, Killed one burr on Depot Island while en- 

 camped there for walrus hunting, and la is w.s ilie only one, 

 1 believe, whose track- were s;. u near oar Camp Unit Winter. 

 Brum had evidently been attiv.cu.-d by ine se. ...i i 



numerous walrus cac/ies tnat dotted r>..put island, and hi 

 came lumbering along, suspecting no danger, early one Ecu- 

 ruary morning. Now "cany in in.; ino.uiug" dep'u.is upon 

 the season, and in the Arctic Kenuary nere.i, i u |[ i 

 nearly eleven o clock iu the loreuoou, and cous.q leul fy o;u 

 polar ursine Iriciid loutui everybody asur iu Ol 

 full advantage of the short day. Uqueeiik's laiuiiy weie 

 alone on the island, many oi his a.-oenii.--, in t He village 

 being absent at the whale snips wintering at Marble 1 land, 



■ .in - vi aity or eighty mites to the u >utj iNM'Cl, an I the bear 

 got fairly into the village before he was (lis lOVered even bj 

 ikqueesfk's four or five runty little half-grown bluclc dogs 

 that looked more like wolverine Kittens tmui the true Esqui- 

 mau class of canines. Tney were, ho wuver,. equal to wio 

 emergency, and Esquimau-like Ikqueesiii had to first come 

 out of his snow hut unarmed to see tne cause of the disturb- 



ance, when Bruin got a good long start of him despite the. 

 persistent nippings of the pups, that delayed him consider- 

 ably. It. was a running chase for a considerable distance, 

 Imt fkqueesik got. in one goo i shot in the foreshoulder of 

 the bear witli his smooth-bore musket that brought him 

 effectually to bay, and although our Netschilluk Nlmrod 

 had one close shave from a during charge of the ferocious 

 beast, he was soon dispatched ami his robe brought tri- 

 umphantly into camp. He was an immense fellow, weigh- 

 ing undoubtedly over a thousand pounds, and would have 

 been a bad customer at close quarters, had not his shoulders 

 been rendered worthless by tne first lire. 



The size of Ihe polar bear varies considerably, even with 

 those thai may be considered fall grown specimens, ami some 

 naturalists class them as the largest Of the geuus Urxus, yet 



no doubt his western brother, the grizzly {lTrtm Jtorribim), 

 will dispute this point closely wilh him." This one killed by 

 fkqueesik was ponounccd by the Esquimaux to be <ti>-a-yu- 

 a ■-.", very large, and had he been wcigiii d 1 would not have 

 beeu -urprised to see him show 1.200 pounds, f certainly 

 would have been siirpiisnl had he slopped short of 1,000. 

 Captain Lyon, a British Arctic explorer, mentions one 

 Weighing 1,6-00 pounds and measuring eigut leet seven inches 

 from tip to lip. ft is said th it B.irentz iu his expedition 

 ol idfld killed two polar bears.whose skins measured no less 

 than twelve and thirteen feet iu length, and Which must have 

 represented enormous animals, rivaling even the grizzly. 

 Tuey were secured on an island near bpitzbergcn. Franz- 

 Joseph Land is pre-eminently the paradise of polar bears, 

 the Austrian expedition oflS/iM tnat discovered il, encount- 

 ering aud killing them by scores, yet the largest one tfiey 

 mention "was right feet long, aud therefore of unusual 

 size." in Parry's Arctic voyage of loll), his parly succeeded 

 in killing a hear that altho'u.eii measuring eight led aud two 

 inches in lengtn only weigued WW pourius. "it will be 

 seen," says a euiomeler of tuat expedition, "that his weight 

 is not at all iu proportion to his dimensions, lor he was a 

 very large animal, as far as length and height went, hut 

 allnougn six inches longer tmui Tne bear We Killed in tni- 

 eoautry last summer, he was upward of two hundred 

 pounds ligjter. On opening hen we discovered Ihe cause 

 uf i uis disparity, for tne whole of tne alimentary canal was iu 

 a high state of gangrene, the liver and lungs were very much 

 iurlaiiicd, and tne spleeu apparently shiuuk considerably 

 oeinw the natural size. The siomach was empty aud eoi- 

 ■apseJ in fact, the whole of tne abdominal viscera bore 

 evident marks of disease." Tuis is evidently an unintentional 

 exaggeration of the state of atf.urs, as any polar bear wuich 

 nas beeu subsisting torn lengtn of lime on putrid seal o, 

 walrus will apparently have au internal gangrene if theiiose 

 plays the par tot the Chiel factor in tne diagnosis, andal 

 sucli times it becomes extreme. y dangerous lo partake ol 

 such of the internal parts as are usually eaten, as tne liver. 

 A number of cases of death are recorded from it, and the 

 direct illne.s.3 is sure to supervene, i believe, however, it 

 the bear, has had a long exelu-iou from such meat, lhat his 

 liver is harmless. The natives alw ays throiv it away, how- 

 ever, and will not even allow the dogs to eat it. 1 noticed 

 this conspicuously in the one tnat i.kqueesik had killed, it 

 being flung out to sea. 



During Hie fall of 1ST8 my hired native hunters, as well 

 as many from the village that had clustered aiound our 

 tents as a nucleus, started inland on their annual reindeer 

 hunt- to procure the hides of tnat animal, which are used 

 almost exclusively for their winter clothing and bedding. 

 Joe attached himself to a young Iwillik Esquimau, Too- 

 looah by name, who will appear many times in these ac- 

 counts as my most valuable aud ini.e'lligent hunter. Too- 

 looah and Joe, as the autumn 3U0W8 commenced failing. 

 had pilwked their sealskin teut on a precipitous hill over- 

 looking a small fresh water lake, where the reindeer on 

 their autumnal southward migrations could be seen for 

 many miles. Whin the weather became too cold to al- 

 low the lent to be warmed by their rude sloue lamps, an 

 igloo, or saow house was built, and lue hunt continued. 

 One cold, gloomy Btorm-boding day when both our heroes 

 were snugly ,.-n-coni ,-d;iu n,u.i -viiieh with the natives means 

 stripped si ark naked, lying Between their dressed reindeer 

 blankets) a terrible racKul was heard near the lake, suf- 

 ficient to excite their curiosity. Joe rose, and partially 

 dressed emerged into the open air. Toolooali stretched out 

 with ins chin in both hands, awaiting the result. It was a big 

 baggy polar bear breaking the ice of the lake, where it. 

 emerged into a small creek, trying to' catch the fish that 

 somelnslinet told him would be found there. As soon as Joe 

 comprehended ihe situation he seized a loaded musket, the 

 only arm on Ihe otu.-ideof the nut, aud taking deliberate aim 

 at tSrhin who was about a hundred and fifty yards 

 away, he let him have au ineffectual shot in" the 

 leg. This astonished his bearship, who had perceived no 

 ..laoger. so much that he only looked at Joe in amazement, 

 howimg furiously at his slight wound. "Mannoohl Nan- 

 nook! ! (a bear I a bear! !) ' yelled Joe as he tired and tuen 

 dodged into the low entrance of the snow-hut in order to 

 g.'t uis Winchester carbine, his head meeting with a good 

 round bump that of Toolooali, who, stan< naked, was 

 emerging, Winchester in baud. By the time that Toolooali 

 aad straightened up in front Of ike entrance, and recovered 

 from his dizzy collision, Jfr. Bruin had begun to appreciate 

 that he Was in an unhealthy neighborhood, and nad ju-t 

 swung his carcass around for a retreat, wueu he got 'io> 

 iooah's first lire in his hams, aud he suited on the run, Tou- 

 lon. ih giving him a secoud as lie disappeared over a crest 

 about "ioi'ty yards fiirthet on. He was nut yet permanently 

 disabled, although pocudng uree wounds onoic or lesssu- 

 vere; and there was no time tor our iiunt.rs to delay if the 

 prey was to be secured. IXsp.te bis immodest appearance, 

 ami to the Esiiuimau mind lue uure palpable reason that 

 the theiinouiet. r was blow z th, Tooiooan ran like a race- 

 horse for About a hundred yards aud got a long range shot 

 of probably three hundred yards at the .etreating polar, who 

 ,vas looking at hi a from uis haunches on a secoud ridge 

 I'nissliot gave him a fatal bullet through the neck. An 

 Esquimau, stark naked, standing halt Kiiee deep in the 

 suow T , in the midst of uu relic winter, gun in hand, over a 

 nilleii bear, would lie a good picture to ua.ug in one's room 

 of hunting trophii-s, to contemplate in the summer lime. 

 lei ibs oi this bear and lhat secured by lkqueesik had 

 fallen to me, but during my absence on my long sledge 

 journey, and during the siniiaier oi 18,11, tne retiring whaler 

 mat hiid landed u- iu iNorth llu.l.ou'; Bay had "gobbled ' 

 lie i vines along with othbisj, for the polar bear lobe has 

 a market value iu the civilized marts, 



Just how brave, feroeioj.- or dangerous the polar bear 

 may be it is extremely hard to sly, u via; to the variety of 

 opinions and dissimilar trai's il bus exhibited in this respect 

 under the scrutiny of equally creditable observers. One 



good authority says "it is the largest, strongest, most power- 

 ful aud. wilh a tingle exception, the most ferocious of 

 bears," the exception evidently meauintr the grizzly. Yet 

 the many mutilated persons I hove seen iu the gieat West 

 who have beeu intimate with the "cinnamon" of that region, 

 and who place him on a par iu ferocity and a superior in 

 activity to the grizzly, would certainly not be willing to 

 surrender his claims lo I hose of the polar bear. Again, the 

 testimony of those who have shot from the decks of an ex- 

 ploring steamer a helpless animal swimming in ihe sea, is 

 of no more value than that of a menagerie keeper who has 

 poisoned a caged Bengal t ger. I am inclini d lo place the 

 polar bear bi low both the cinnamon and grizzly of tne West 

 in bravery, although the superior of either iu activity. His 

 long, lithe, snake-like form, compared with ihe bungling 

 carcasses of others, would shoe? tuis without further argu- 

 ment or practical demonstration, yet it has received the 

 latter without doubt. 'J hose who argue of the ferocity 

 produced by a carnivorous diet m ry think the polar should 

 excel his omnivorous brethren of the south, as he is wholly 

 ot this type; yet singularly enough his system of dentition 

 is exactly the same as that of Ulfe other bears. Still, as has 

 been said, the polaa bear has exhibited all traits of bravery, 

 from that of the most ferocious tlUrogard of its life, to lire 

 most abject cowardice. The old A r or.-emeii, than whom no 

 braver inen ever lived, came in contact with these glacial 

 grizzlies when their most adventuious diseOMied (jn.en- 

 laud, and Erik the Bed, their bold leader, quarreled furi- 

 ously with one of his best friends from sheer envy because 

 the latter bad killed a polar bear, aud thus distinguished 

 himself among those who valuid bravery as high as it has 

 ever been held since, when his chief should have beeu given 

 tuis honored opportunity, They certainly valued him as a, 

 plucky adversary. "Killing a bear," says Chevalier Kink. 

 once Danish Inspector of Greenland, "mi's, in ancient as well 

 as in modem times, bei n < om-iiicnd one ol the most distin- 

 guishing feats of sportsmansliip in Greenland." If Ihe 

 Esquimaux of Greenland are the peers ol theii polar breth- 

 ren an Hie main coutiuint, they would certainly pick no 

 meau opponent to be thus dist m.uished. 



All Arctic authorities seem to unite on the fact that the 

 mother is unsparing in her exhioitious of bravery to pi o teut 

 her young, and hardly a boreal book exists that " 

 recount one or more of these instances of maternal affec- 

 tion; and yet 1 will be compelled to narrate an incident tuat 

 same under my own personal observation that will shatter 

 somewuat even this uuauiuiity Of opinion. My party of 

 four white men aud Tooloo.-ih's family were on their south- 

 ward search aloug the western coast of King William's 

 Band in August, ldTi), and had encamped inland about five 

 or six miles l.om Ereuus Bay, CiO.-siug over the peninsula 

 between it and Terror Bay, fifteen nines wide. \\ hile thus 

 crossing our effects, 1 had occasion to send Toolooali back 

 to the tornier bay to get a large drill log that i had seen 

 there and had had split up to be used lor firewood. He 

 took a number of the dogs harnessed and only a snow- 

 kuil'e. a two-edged one, about sixteen inches long in all, 

 which had had Die handle knocked Off of Die tang, m Order 

 to crease one end of the logs so that the drag lope would 

 not pull oil'. Rearing the shore of the bay, he discovered a 

 she ileal- and a goodly sized cub trotting along the edge of 

 the water, whiih the" dogs, when slipped, sooii brought lo 

 bay. Nothing daunted, foolooah separated the dam from 

 tin" cub by pelting the former vigorously' with stones, and 

 while she "was employed growling at the snapping oogs a 

 short distance olf, he'uis]iaiched the cub with uis decrepid 

 knife, and after running the mother out to sea on the icefloe, 

 he brought the carea.-s of the cub triumphantly into camp, 

 tied on tne spreading pieces of the split log. 1 told Toolooali 

 a story ol Captain Hall's, wnieh he mentions in bis book, 

 of haying killed a p: tar cub while his native allies weie iu 

 a fruitless chase after the separated dam, and their conse- 

 quent fright and dismay when they saw it, who SO leared 

 l lie vengeance of the' returning 'mother, that they made 

 almost incredible exertions to avoid it, such as doubling 

 upon their retreating track repeatedly, and traveling nearly 

 all night; and then asked f'ooiooah if he was not afraid of 

 the mother following his plainly marked trail to the tent 

 and reeking due vengeance. But he smiled as be answered 

 that he hoped she would, as he. lilt very angry at himself 

 lor being caught in such a predicament without ins gun, 

 aud if she would only come aloug again be would make due 

 amends. He said tnat he had known several instances 

 wherein the cub of the polar bear had been killed, and where 

 the mother was not injured, but has never known any 

 evil resulting from the auger of the hitler, unless it occurred 

 right on the field of battle, where she will rtispl&J more 

 energy in the defease of her young, but seems to have, 

 shown a lamentable absence of that trait iu this particular 

 iustance. It would seem from tuis that either L'apia.n Hall's 

 allks were needlessly frightened, or lhat, the disposition of 

 the polar bear variesmuyi wilh the locality. Joe, who was 

 With Hail in all his Arctic I ravels, and remembered tuis in- 

 stance, says that both views are partially correct, and in fact, 

 that the polar hear is very unee.tain iu its como.it veuess. 

 Probably had a less aclive hunter than Toolooali, who was 

 agility personified, undertaken lue assault, iln- result would 

 have "been dilfereut, tor his rapidity evidently com used the 

 animal so, tnat Ihe wnole tragedy" was enacted belore sue 

 really comprehended the situation. 



About, tne mfdole of Octojcr, in '79. while Toolooah was 

 in Terror Bay, he killed three polar b.ais ie-about hidt as 

 many minutes. He had descried them trom a die once 

 Its uis si i dge cune over the eastern ridge of tue bay 

 and managed to so direct his eoaise ainoug the nuaimoek 

 of iee as to get within a couple ct bundled yards of tiieui 

 belore m.y uotictd uis presence, wh<m he slipped the do 

 and although th ■ open ivatcr along the .-hoi ■_■ iee, lo whu-h 

 they always take wueu pur ued, was no I'urtner away, they 

 weie so B10W m getting under w iv that one was brought, to 

 bay by the dog i. Widen I'oolooah despaleued wilh a single 

 shot luroiuh iue head, aud so quickly lhat When he gained 

 the ice-floe the o'.ha- two were not over f.d'ty or 

 liih yards away swimming for dear life, although ihey did 



not manage to* save llie.n.-'.elves, as two well-directed shots 

 laid t em oul. Tuen 'foolooah, extemporizing a r„ ft from 

 a floating cuKe of ice. managed to get them both in, aud 

 b. ougnt us the three robes to ve ify n s prowess. 



Toolooah killed a moiislious pouir bear, mat would prob- 

 ably ".lick tin- beam" at 1,300 or 1,400 pounds, Ihe day we 

 leached the northernmost cape of Iting yVilliam'si Band July 

 3). Bruin came snufnug into cuup when Toelooah aud Frank 

 were absent, and while the dogs were yet harnessed to the 



-ledge, wnen a good view ot tue feHUuttdH 

 oil' on the sea ice at a smait lope, 'I ooLoah and Edink 

 following him with the. ight sledge over the t rifle rough 

 hummock of V.c.oriu Channel. The nineteen st.eng and ex- 



