this bear lives just as comfortably as the tiger in the hot jungles of
Asia, and while he is not quite so savage as the tiger, he is almost
as hard to kill. But, in speaking of his disposition, I have no
intention whatever to give him a character for amiability. In fact, he
is very ferocious at times. He has often been known to attack parties
of men, and when wounded can make a most soul-stirring defence.

The Polar bear is a big fellow, with long white hair, and he lives on
seals and fish, and almost anything he can pick up. Sometimes he takes
a fancy to have a man or two for his supper, as the following story
will prove.

A ship, returning from Nova Zembla, anchored near an island in the
Arctic Ocean, and two of the sailors went on land. They were standing
on the shore, talking to each other, when one of them cried out, "Stop
squeezing me!"

The other one looked around, and there was a white bear, very large
but very lean and scraggy, which had sneaked up behind the sailors,
and now had clutched one of them, whom he very speedily killed and
commenced to eat, while the other sailor ran away.

The whole crew of the ship now landed, and came after the bear,
endeavoring to drive him away from the body of their comrade; but as
they approached him, he quietly looked at them for a minute, and then
jumped right into the middle of the crowd, seized another man, and
killed him. Upon this, the crew ran away as fast as they could, and
scuttling into their boats, rowed away to the ship.

There were three of these sailors, however, who were too brave to
stay there and see a bear devouring the bodies of their friends, and
they returned to the island.

The bear did not move as they approached him, and they fired on him,
without seeming to injure him in the least. At length one of them
stepped up quite close to him, and put a ball into his head just above
his eye.

[Illustration]

But even this did not kill him, although it is probable that it
lessened his vigor, for he soon began to stagger, and the sailors,
falling upon him with their swords, were able to put him to death, and
to rescue the remains of their comrades.

After these stories, I think that we will all agree that when we meet
a procession of bears, be they black, white, or grizzly, we will be
very wise to give them the right of way, and to endeavor to drive from
our minds, as far as possible, such ideas of the animals as we may
have derived from those individ