156 JL.AST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
It must however be observed that this was a small specimen of 
the species, and excessively lean, indeed if the venders of bear's 
grease of the metropolis, depended upon the supply from the 
animals of the polar regions, the commodity would be exceed¬ 
ingly scarce, for it may be said with some truth, that the life of 
a polar bear is one of starvation, and it was seldom that one was 
killed, the condition of which, demonstrated that its ursinine 
appetite had been regularly satisfied, or in fact that it had ever 
been satisfied at all. In the intestines of one of the bears that 
were killed, a mass of vegetable matter was found, which proved 
to what extremity the animal must have been driven for food, as 
it generally manages to support nature on seals, and the remains 
of fish. When its appetite is satisfied, it is a lazy, sleepy animal 
and only drawn from its hole by the impulse of hunger, when its 
ferocity becomes truly formidable, and its extraordinary strength 
generally insures it the victory over its less powerful opponents. 
The bear that waskilled by the crew of the Alexander, on the first 
voyage of Capt. Ross, weighed l,131|Ibs, after allowing thirty 
pounds for the loss of blood, consequently by comparison, the 
bear killed by the crew of the Victory, was about two thirds of 
the size of the former. Capt. Ross ordered that a skeleton 
should be made of the bear, which, considering that sailors are 
not the most expert anatomists in the world, was well and ably 
executed. The skeleton would have appeared either in the 
British Museum or in that of the Zoological Society, as a dis¬ 
tinguished trophy of the last expedition of Capt. Ross, but it 
was unfortunately left with the ship itself, to have 
Its marrowless bones 
Bleached by the merciless blast, its form 
To the power of corruption left. 
On the 8th the ship was exposed to some violent gales, ac¬ 
companied with a heavy fall of snow. The crew began to clear 
the hold of provisions, and to stow them away, where they were 
to remain for the winter. The two boats which Capt. Franklin 
had with him in his expedition were hauled on shore, and every 
exertion was now made to get the ship nearer in shore. The 
