saw a bear
taking a promenade on an ice island with two little cubs. Chase was
given at once, but the bear did not perceive the hunters until they were
within five hundred yards of her. She then stood up on her hind-legs
like a dancing bear, gave one good look at her pursuers, and started to
run at full speed over the smooth ice, her cubs close at her heels. She
had the advantage of the hunters, as the feet of the polar bear are
thickly covered with long hair--nature's wise provision to keep the
animal from slipping; but the ice soon broke up into a vast expanse of
slush, and here the little cubs stuck fast. The faithful mother seized
first one and then the other, but proceeded with so much difficulty that
the hunters were soon near enough to fire at her. The little ones clung
to their mother's dead body, and it was with great difficulty that the
hunters succeeded in dragging them to the camp, where they stoutly
resisted all friendly advances, and bit and struggled, and roared as
loud as they could.

Bears often annoy arctic travellers by breaking open the caches, or
store-houses, left along the line of march for return supplies. Dr. Kane
relates that he found one of his caches, which had been built with heavy
rocks laid together with extreme care, entirely destroyed, the bears
apparently having had a grand frolic, rolling about the bread barrels,
playing foot-ball with the heavy iron cases of pemmican, and even
gnawing to shreds the American flag which surmounted the cache.

Roast bear meat is very palatable and welcome food to travellers in the
dreary frozen arctic regions, and at the cry of "Nannook! nannook!" ("A
bear! a bear!") from the Esquimaux guides, both men and dogs start in
eager pursuit. The bear being white like the snow, it often escapes
detection, and Dr. Kane mentions approaching what he thought was a heap
of somewhat dingy snow, when he was startled by a "menagerie roar,"
which sent him running toward the ship, throwing back his mittens, one
at a time, to divert the bear's attention.

Polar bears are sometimes found upon floating ice-cakes a hundred miles
from land, having been caught during some sudden break up of the vast
ice-fields of arctic seas, and every year a dozen or more come drifting
down to the northern shores of Iceland, where, ravenous after their long
voyage, they fall furiously upon the herds. Their life on shore,
however, is very brief, as the inhabitants rise in arms and speedily