138 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEBGEN. 
ful tail; we drive our long lances into Iris spotted 
side, and for ten minutes we keep up the unequal con¬ 
test. After a final plunge and dying struggle he is our 
own; a rope is rove round his tail, and all hands to¬ 
gether drag him on to the ice. We measure him, and 
find him a good eighteen feet. In a short time liis 
blubber is cut up into pieces sufficiently small to go 
through the opening in the casks, and the whole is 
carefully stowed away, as the oil is of the finest quality. 
His horn, after a rough polishing up, is taken down 
with some ceremony and deposited in the state 
cabin, a trophy of the great deep. Then our men get 
together to make a vast fire-place out of his remains. 
This is a scientific operation, and is done with due 
care. The framework of the carcase is rolled over, and 
turned with its back towards the wind; the interior is 
cleared out, and a hole is made somewhere in the back, 
destined to serve as a chimney. The openings between 
the ribs are made to serve the purpose of a grate, to- 
let the air in below. Plenty of wood and oakum is 
packed inside, a match is set to the materials and he 
burns brightly. The greasy, oily flame is highly in¬ 
flammable, and the mass soon frizzles up into a stinking 
cloud, the object being to attract any bears that may 
be straying in the neighbourhood, the olfactories of the 
great polar bear being, it is supposed, unable to resist 
