POLAR BEAR. 
287 
regard solely to the she Bear, which retires to her winter-quarters in No- 
vember, where she lives without food, brings forth two young about 
Christmas, and leaves the den in the month of March, when the cubs are 
as large as a shepherd’s dog. If, perchance, her offspring are tired, they 
ascend the back of the dam, where they ride secure eithw in water or 
ashore. Though they sometimes go nearly thirty miles from the sea in 
winter, they always come down to the shores in the spring with their cubs, 
where they subsist on seals and sea-weed. The he Bear wanders about 
the marshes and adjacent parts until November, and then goes out to the 
sea upon the ice, and preys upon seals. 
The Esquimaux aecount of the hibernation of the Polar Bear is curious : 
it was related to Capt. Lyons by one of their most intelligent men, re- 
joicing in the euphonious name of (Mr.) Ooyarrakhioo ! and is as fol- 
lovvs “ At the commencement of winter the pregnant bears are very fat, 
and always solitary. When a heavy fall of snow sets in, the animal seeks 
some hollow place in which she can lie down and remain quiet, while the 
snow covers her. Sometimes she will wait until a quantity of snow has 
fallen, and then digs herself a cave : at all events, it seems necessary that 
she should be covered by, and lie amongst, the snow. She now goes to 
sleep, and does not wake until the spring sun is pretty high, when she 
brings forth two cubs. The cave by this time has become much larger 
by the effect of the animal’s warmth and breath, so that the cubs have 
room to move, and they acquire considerable strength by continually suck- 
ing. The dam at length becomes so thin and weak, that it is with great dif- 
ficulty she extricates herself, when the sun is powerful enough to throw a 
strong glare through the snow which roofs the den.” The Esquimaux 
affirm that during this long confinement the Bear has no evacuations, and 
is herself the means of preventing them by stopping all the natural pas- 
sages with moss, grass, or earth. The natives find and kill the Bears 
during their confinement by means of dogs, which scent them through the 
snow, and begin scratching and howling very eagerly. As it would be 
unsafe to make a large opening, a long trench i§ cut M sufficient width to 
enable a man to look down and see where the bear’s head lies, and he 
then selects a mortal part, into which he thrusts his spear. The old one 
being killed, the hole is broken open, and the young cubs may be taken 
out by the hand, as, having tasted no blood, and never having been at 
liberty, they are then very harmless and quiet. Females, which are not 
pregnant, roam throughout the whole winter in the same manner as the 
males. 
The Polar Bear is at certain seasons and under peculiar circumstances 
a dangerous animal. Like the Grizzly Bear it possesses both strength 
