169 
winter retreat; and having marked it, returns in 
January to the attack. Having prepared a lance, 
to which a cross-bar is appended, about one foot 
from the point, the Finmarker, when the wind is 
in a favourable direction, makes a large fire before 
the bear’s den ; the smoke soon irritating the ani¬ 
mals, they rush out, one by one : at this critical 
moment, the Finmarker concealing his lance, places 
himself behind the fire, and the bear rearing on his 
hind legs, in order to seize him, he plunges his lance 
up to the cross-bar in his breast. * The rest are 
served in the same manner. 
£C The rein-deer are here extremely plenty, and 
very dear; we paid L. 2 for one of them. Certain¬ 
ly they had heard something of the wealth of John 
Bull. 
“ Some of the better sort of people at Hammer- 
fest, possessed a few cows and sheep. The cows 
were not larger than a bull-dog, and the sheep like 
a good tom-cat. 
46 The female beauty of this place had sufficient 
attraction to induce the gentlemen of the Princess 
Carolina and Sybyll, to give them a ball and sup¬ 
per. The invitation was quite general, and the 
whole went off with great eclat. 
“ Most of the Russian agents and merchants 
spoke the English language, but they were by no 
means anxious to communicate information which 
* The intrepidity of the Finmarker, and the dangers he has to 
encounter in the chase of the seal, are well described in Acerbi’s 
excellent Travels in the North, vol. i. p. 291» 
