172 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEBGEN. 
were foolisli enough to fire a few shots among them, 
when the bears sprang furiously from the carcase and 
made for their boat. One succeeded in getting its 
paws on to the gunwale, and it was only by the 
vigorous application of an axe that they succeeded in 
relieving themselves of so unwelcome an addition to 
their crew. On the whole, the conclusion Brown 
comes to, is that the polar bear is not a very fierce 
animal when not enraged, and he thinks that a great 
deal of the impressions which we have imbibed regard¬ 
ing its ferocity are more due to old notions of what it 
ought to be rather than what it is, and that the tales 
related by Barentz, Edward Pelham, and other old 
navigators were a good deal exaggerated. When 
enraged or emboldened by hunger, it is easily under¬ 
stood that, in common with all wild and even domes¬ 
ticated animals, it may be dangerous to man. Though 
seemingly so unwieldy, the nennok runs with great 
speed, and being almost marine in its habits, it swims 
with perfect ease and dives with a natural grace 
almost as well as an ordinary seal. 
It has been chased over the ice on many occasions, 
as every one is aware who has looked over the pages 
of the Arctic records, and the mother bear on many 
occasions has been observed to manifest the most 
fender solicitude for her offspring—helping them with 
