BEAR. 
245 
But it must be confessed that we are too fre- 
quently the aggressors, and that the animal in general 
may be rather said to take a just revenge, than exer- 
cise a wanton cruelty. It sometimes happens that 
a Greenlander in his canoe, passing near an ice float, 
is surprised by a visit from a white bear, who, if he 
does not overset the boat, will seat himself very 
quietly as a passenger, and suffer the Greenlander 
to row him ashore. It is said that on such occasions 
the bear seldom offers any violence to his water- 
man. 
They generally spend the summer months on 
islands of ice, passing frequently from one to the 
other ; and they have been seen on these islands at 
the distance of eighty miles from any land. They 
are excellent swimmers, and sometimes dive, though 
they cannot stay long under the water. Their 
lodgings are the natural caverns formed by stu- 
pendous masses of ice, which, being piled one over 
another, leave large cavities beneath. The long 
and dismal winter nights of those inclement regions 
are passed by the bears in deep beds of snow, which 
they fashion to their purpose, and there remain in 
a state of torpidity, till the refreshing appearance 
of the vernal sun calls them forth from their re- 
treats. 
They often feed on whortleberries and crow- 
berries, though they greatly prefer the flesh of ani- 
mals ; and deer, hares, birds, all sorts of fish, seals, 
and the carcases of whales, are alike devoured by 
them. Greenland abounds with them, where they 
