into play, and then Colonel Fleischmann with a well-directed 
shot, hit the large bear, which tumbled backward into the 
water. A boat put off at once and found her quite dead just 
where she had fallen. She was hit in the side, the bullet 
ranging through her lungs and passing close to the heart. 
Dr. Holmes and Mr. Learmonth each brought down one of 
the cubs. They rolled about, growling loudly, and staggered 
and crawled fully one hundred yards after being hit. One 
was in advance, but the second managed to reach him, and 
they lay one on top of the other when found. Both were shot 
in the shoulder, Dr. Holmes dispatching his with two bullets, 
and Mr. Learmonth with three, his last entering the neck. 
All the shoulder shots passed completely through the bodies, 
one of Dr. Holmes’s shattering the spine. The bears were 
towed to the ship by the small boats and hoisted on board by 
block and tackle. The mother measured six feet nine inches, 
and the cubs five feet nine and five feet seven inches. 
“The carcasses of the bear, like the seal, are flensed by 
some of the crew; the skin, however, is towed for several 
hours, to cleanse it thoroughly of blood. After a few days 
the fat is made off and the head skinned; the skulls are pre¬ 
pared and kept for use in mounting, and the fur salted and 
put away in barrels. The haunches of the cubs were hung in 
‘cold storage’ with the reindeer meat and the geese.” 
Three snow grouse or ivory gulls (Pagophilia eburnea), 
beautiful white birds, were also brought down. 
We had reached far enough into the ice-pack by July 20th 
to note the absence of the mud-colored bergs abounding on 
July 10th its outskirts. Floes increased in area, and the former flat 
surfaces of these gave place to tumbled masses and rather 
thin, irregular snow-blocks. The latter, heaped one on an¬ 
other, rose to heights of from twenty to fifty feet. 
It was below freezing still, and the ice stood thick on the 
rigging; crystal fringes of icicles, hanging from the edges of 
the floes, adding other touches to the scene. 
“At 7 A. M. Mr. Peterson, the mate, sighted a big bear 
walking over some heavy ice to starboard, and shambling 
easily along to the edge of the floe, where he plunged into 
the water for a morning dip. The first shot hit him as he 
was leaving the water about fifty yards from the ship. This 
as well as the next struck him in the shoulder; he whirled 
about, and then ran rapidly over the ice, followed by several 
shots, all of which hit him and knocked him down, but he 
recovered each time and ran out. Mr. Learmonth at a range 
of about three hundred yards finally laid him low, but still 
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