III.] 
THE POLAR BEAR. 
145 
peace-loving nomad Tatar tribes living in the north, that there 
are to he found there white bears most of them twenty hands long, 
large black foxes, wild asses (reindeer), and a little animal called 
^^rondes/' from which we get the sable furd As the Polar 
bear is only to be found on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, these 
statements prove that in the thirteenth century the northernmost 
part of Asia was inhabited or at least visited by hunters. Olaus 
Magnus even describes the bear s mode of life not incorrectly, 
with the addition that it was customary to present their skins 
to the altars of cathedrals and parish churches in order that 
the feet of the priest might not freeze during mass.^ The Polar 
bear however first became more generally known in Western 
Europe by the Arctic voyages of the English and Dutch, and its 
price has now sunk so much that its skin, which was once con¬ 
sidered an article of extraordinary value, is now, in adjusting 
1 Ramusio, Part II., Venice, 1583, p. 60. 
^ 01. Magnus. Rome edition, 1555, p. 621. 
L 
