th them and their cubs at the same time.
They find the retreat in various ways: sometimes by their dogs scraping
to get into it, and sometimes by observing the white hoar that hangs
over a little hole which the warmth of the bear's breath has kept open
in the snow.

The hunters, having ascertained the exact position of the animal's body,
either dig from above, and spear the old she in her bed; or they make a
tunnel in a horizontal direction, and, getting a noose around the head
or one of the paws of the bear, drag her forth in that way.

To give an account of the many interesting habits peculiar to the polar
bear--with others which this species shares in common with the Bruin
family--would require a volume to itself. These habits are well
described by many writers of veracity,--such as Lyon, Hearne,
Richardson, and a long array of other Arctic explorers. It is therefore
unnecessary to dwell on them here--where we have only space to narrate
an adventure which occurred to our young bear-hunters, while procuring
the skin of this interesting quadruped.

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.

THE OLD SHE SURROUNDED.

They had been for some days on the lookout for a white bear; and had
made several excursions from the Port--going as far as the mouth of the
Seal river, which runs into Hudson's Bay a little farther to the north.
On all these excursions they had been unsuccessful; for, although they
had several times come upon the track of the bears, and had even seen
them at a distance, they were unable in a single instance to get within
shot. The difficulty arose from the level nature of the ground, and its
being quite destitute of trees or other cover, under which they might
approach the animals. The country around Fort Churchill is of this
character--and indeed along the whole western shore of Hudson's Bay,
where the soil is a low alluviom, without either rocks or hills. This
formation runs landward for about a hundred miles--constituting a strip
of marshy soil, which separates the sea from a parallel limestone
formation further inward. Then succeed the primitive rocks, which cover
a large interior tract of country, known as the "Barren Grounds."

It is only on the low belt adjoining the coast that the polar bear is
found; but the females range quite across to the skirts of the woods
which cover the limestone formation. Our hunters therefore knew that
either upon the shore itself, or upon the low alluvial tract adjoining
it,