POLAR BEAR. 
40 © 
j)lete man. They give a great entertainment, at 
#hich they make it a point to leave nothing un- 
eaten. The feast is dedicated to a certain genius, 
(apparently that of Gluttony ;) whose resentment 
they dread if they do noteat every morsel, and even 
sup up the melted grease in which the meat was 
dressed: They sometimes eat till they burst or bring 
themselves some violent disorders. The first 
course is the greatest bear they have killed ; with- 
out even taking out the entrails, or skinning it ; 
Contenting themselves with singeing the skin, as is 
practised with hogs/' 
It is common with the southern Indians of Ame- 
rica, to tame and domesticate the young cubs of 
the bear ; and these are frequently taken so young 
that they cannot eat. On such occasions the In- 
dians often oblige their wives to suckle them ; and 
one of the company's servants at Hudson's Bay, 
whose, name was Isaac Batt, willing to be as great 
a brute as his Indian companions, absolutely 
forced one of his wives, who had recently lost her 
infant, to suckle a young hear. 
Polar* or white bear. 
Tins species has a long head and neck, and 
short round ears ; the end of its nose and claws 
are black ; its teeth are very large ; its hair is 
long, soft, and white, tinged in some parts with 
yellow ; its limbs are of great size and strength ; 
its eyes are very small. 
Animals of this species grow to a vast size ; the 
Skins of some are thirteen feet long. They are 
confined to the coldest part of the globe, and have 
been found as far as navigators have penetrated 
northward, above the parallel of eighty degrees. 
The frigid climates alone seem adapted to their 
nature ; even the north of Norway and the coirn- 
VOL. i 3 Q 
