310 
I AST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
fiture, that in the estimation of the Kabloonas two halves are not 
equal in value to the whole. 
The white Bear, (the ursus maritimus of Linnseus,) may he con¬ 
sidered as the largest and the most ferocious quadruped of the 
Arctic Regions. He finds an abode congenial to his hardy nature 
in those desolate fields of ice, which lock up the polar seas during 
a great part of the year. Prowling over the frozen wastes, he 
satiates his hunger on the marine animals, such as seals, who 
break through the ice to breathe the open air, or he plunges into 
the sea in pursuit of his prey. Possessing an astonishingly acute 
scent, great activity and strength, and equal cunning, he contrives 
to support existence in regions, where it might be thought that 
so large a quadruped must necessarily perish. Ever watchful, 
he ascends the hills of ice, called hummocks, to extend his range 
of observation over the wide plain, where a solitary seal may 
perhaps be resting, or to snuff the tainted air, by which he knows 
that some remains of a whale or a walrus, deserted by the fisher¬ 
men of Europe, or the native Esquimaux, will afford him an ample 
feast. He doubtless often suffers long and extreme hunger, for 
the seal, which forms his chief subsistence, is as vigilant as the 
bear, and he is often carried out to sea upon some small island 
of ice, where he may remain for days without the possibility of 
procuring food. The polar bear has been seen floating in this 
way at a distance of two hundred miles from any land; swim¬ 
ming excellently, he however, often travels from one island to 
another, or visits the shore, where he commits fearful ravages. 
In Iceland, where these destructive animals land, the inhabitants 
immediately collect together to destroy them. Near the east 
coast of Greenland, they have been seen on the ice in such 
numbers, that they have been compared to flocks of sheep on a 
common. 
The polar bear retreats from man, but when attacked he is a 
formidable enemy. His extraordinary sagacity is well known to 
the whale fishers, who find the greatest difficulty in entrapping 
him, although he fearlessly approaches their vessels. The follow¬ 
ing instance of its sagacity are curious. 
A seal lying in the middle of a large piece of ice, with a hole 
