THE POLAR BEAU. 415 
north unites the strength of the lion with the untamable 
fierceness of the hyena. A long shaggy covering of white 
soft hair, and a copious supply of fat, enable feim to defy the 
winter of this rigorous climate. Under the heat of Britain 
he suffers the most painful sensations : Pennant saw one, 
over whom it was neceessary from time to time to pour large 
pailfuls of water. Another, kept for some years by Professor 
Jameson, evidently suffered severel}'- from the heat of an Edin- 
burgh summer. The haunt of the bear is on the dreary 
arctic shores, or on mountains of ice, sometimes two hundred 
miles from land ; yet he is not, strictly speaking, amphibious. 
He cannot remain under water above a few moments, and he 
reaches his maritime stations only by swimming from one 
icy fragment to another. Mr. Scoresby limits the swimming 
reach to three or four miles ; yet Parry found one in the cen- 
tre of Barrow's Strait, where it was forty miles across. This 
bear prowls continually for his prey, which consists chiefly 
of the smaller cecacia, and of seals, which, unable to contend 
with him, shun their fate by keeping strict watch, and plunging 
into the depths of the waters. With the walrus he holds 
dreadful and doubtful encounters ; and that powerful animal, 
with his enormous tusks, frequently beats him off with great 
damage. The whale he dares not attack, but watches anx- 
iously for the huge carcass in a dead state, which affords him 
a prolonged and delicious feast : he scents it at the distance 
of miles. All these sources of supply being precarious, he is 
sometimes left for weeks without food, and the fury of his 
hunger then becomes tremendous. At such periods, man, 
viewed by him always as his prey, is attacked with peculiar 
fierceness. 
The annals of the north are filled with accounts of the most 
perilous and fatal conflicts of the polar bear. The first, and 
one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barantz and Heems- 
kerke, in 1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the 
north-east passage. Having anchored at an island near the 
strait of Waygatz, two of the sailors landed, and were Avalk- 
ing on shore, when one of them felt himself closely hugged 
from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his compan- 
ions, he called out in a corresponding tone, " Who's there ? 
pray stand off." His comrade looked, and screamed out, 
" A bear ! a bear !" then running to the ship, alarmed the 
crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot armed with 
pikes and muskets. On their approach the bear very coolly 
quitted the mangled corpse, sprang upon another sailor, car- 
