142 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
within a short time. They depend less on the gun. During 
the expedition of 1861 Carl Chydenius shot three in a few 
minutes, close to his tent-covered boat. 
I do not know a single case in which any Norwegian walrus- 
hunter has been seriously wounded by a bear. It appears, 
however, as if this animal were bolder and more dangerous in 
regions where he has not made acquaintance with man s dan¬ 
gerous hunting implements. During the first English and 
Dutch voyages to Novaya Zemlya, bears were met with at 
nearly every place where a landing was effected, in regions where 
the Polar bear is now wholly absent, and the travellers were 
compelled to undertake actual combats—combats which cost 
several human lives. During Barents’ second voyage some men 
on the yIS September, 1595, landed on the mainland near the 
eastern mouth of Yugor Schar, in order to collect ''a sort of 
diamonds occurring there ” (valueless rock crystals), when a large 
white bear, according to De Veer, rushed forward and caught one 
of the stone collectors by the neck. On the man screaming 
'' Who seizes me by the neck ? ” a comrade standing beside 
answered, '' A bear,” and ran off. The bear immediately bit 
asunder the head of his prey, and sucked the blood. The rest of 
the men who were on land now came to his relief, attacking the 
bear with levelled guns and lances. But the bear was not 
frightened, but rushed forward and laid hold of a man in the 
rank of the attacking party, and killed him too, whereupon all 
the rest took to flight. Assistance now came from the vessel, 
and the bear was surrounded by thirty men, but against their 
will, because they had to do with a grim, undaunted, and greedy 
beast.” Of these thirty men only three ventured to attack the 
bear, whom these courageous ” men finally killed, after a rather 
severe struggle. 
A large number of occurrences of a similar nature, though 
commonly attended with fortunate results, are to be found 
recorded in most of the narratives of Arctic travel. Thus 
