One of the most comical and grotesque of all the Bear family is the Spectacled Bear, which derives its chief attraction from the light-coloured rings round its eyes; these—the greater part of the face being, like the body, black—have exactly the appearance of a pair of common “goggles,” through which the beast seems to look with an air of mingled wisdom and imbecility. Hence, of course, we get the animal’s English popular name.
The Spectacled Bear occurs only in South America, where it is found in the mountainous regions of Chili. It attains a length of about three feet and a half.
THE POLAR BEAR.[151]
The great White Bear of the Arctic regions—the “Nennok” of the Eskimo—is the largest as well as one of the best known of the whole family. It is a gigantic animal, often attaining a length of nearly nine feet, and is proportionally strong and fierce. It is found over the whole of Greenland; but its numbers seem to be on the decrease. It is distinguished from other Bears by its narrow head, its flat forehead in a line with the prolonged muzzle, its short ears, and long neck. “It is of a light creamy colour, rarely pure white, except when young: hence the Scottish whalers call it the ‘brounie,’ or ‘brownie,’ and sometimes ‘the farmer,’ from its very agricultural appearance as it stalks leisurely over the furrowed fields of ice. Its principal food consists of Seals, which it persecutes most indefatigably; but it is somewhat omnivorous in its diet, and will often clear an islet of Eider-duck eggs in the course of a few hours. I have seen it watch a Seal for half a day, the Seal continually escaping, just as the Bear was about putting its foot on it, at the atluk (or escape hole) in the ice. Finally, it tried to circumvent its prey in another manner. It swam off to a distance, and when the Seal was again half asleep at its atluk, the Bear swam under the ice, with a view to cut off its retreat. It failed, however, and the Seal finally escaped. The rage of the animal was boundless; it roared hideously, tossing the snow in the air, and trotted off in a most indignant state of mind.”[152]
Being so fond of Seal-flesh, the Polar Bear often proves a great nuisance to Seal-hunters, whose occupation he naturally regards as a thoughtful catering for his wants. He is also glad of the Whale carcases often found floating in the Arctic seas; and travellers have seen as many as twenty Bears busily discussing the huge body of a dead Whalebone Whale.
As the Polar Bear is able to obtain food all through the Arctic winter, there is not the same necessity, as in the case of the vegetable-eating Bears, for hibernating. In fact, the males and young females roam about through the whole winter, and only the pregnant females retire for the season. These—according to the Eskimo account, quoted by Captain Lyon—are very fat at the commencement of winter, and on the first fall of snow they lie down and allow themselves to be covered, or else dig a cave in a drift, and then go to sleep until the spring, when the cubs are born. By this time the animal’s heat has melted the snow for a considerable distance, so that there is plenty of room for the young ones, who tumble about at their ease, and get fat at the expense of their parent, who, after her long abstinence, becomes gradually very thin and weak. The whole family leave their abode of snow when the sun is strong enough to partially melt its roof. The Eskimo have the same theory about the hibernating Polar Bears that the Northern Indians hold with regard to the Brown Bear, namely, that it has no evacuations during the winter, “stopping up all the natural passages with moss, grass, or earth.”
The Polar Bear is regularly hunted with Dogs by the Eskimo. The following extract gives an account of their mode of procedure:—“Let us suppose a Bear scented out at the base of an iceberg. The Eskimo examines the track with sagacious care, to determine its age and direction, and the speed with which the animal was moving when he passed along. The Dogs are set upon the trail, and the hunter courses over the ice at their side in silence. As he turns the angle of the berg his game is in view before him, stalking, probably, along with quiet march, sometimes snuffing the air suspiciously, but making, nevertheless, for a nest of broken hummocks. The Dogs spring forward, opening a wild, wolfish yell, the driver shrieking ‘Nannook! nannook!’ and all straining every nerve in pursuit.”
POLAR BEARS.
“The Bear rises on his haunches, inspects his pursuers, and starts off at full speed. The hunter, as he runs, leaning over his sledge, seizes the traces of a couple of his Dogs, and liberates them from their burthen. It is the work of a minute, for the motion is not checked, and the remaining Dogs rush on with apparent ease.