And manages the seas.”
Beneath his care the mariner is safe, and whether from the abysses of its ancient caves, or the foundations of its lofty icebergs, the sea must surrender unto eternal life the bodies of the disciples of Jesus.
The Arctic fox, Canis lagopus, is an animal known to those who winter in Spitzbergen, though seldom seen by the whale-fishers. They are rarely found on the ice, though I have often found their impressions on the snow. They are of a white colour, and not easily distinguished.
A more remarkable animal is the Polar or Greenland bear, Ursus maritimus. He is the sovereign of the quadrupeds of the Arctic countries. He is powerful and courageous; savage and sagacious; apparently clumsy, yet not inactive. His senses are extremely acute, especially his sight and smell. As he traverses extensive fields of ice, he mounts the hummocks and looks for prey, and on rearing his head and snuffing the breeze, he can perceive the scent of the carrion of the whale at an immense distance. Seals are his usual food, but from their watchfulness he is often obliged to fast. He is as much at home on the ice as on the land, and is found on field-ice above two hundred miles from shore. He can swim with the velocity of three miles an hour, and can dive to a considerable distance.
Bears occur in Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Greenland, and other Arctic countries, throughout the year. In some places, they are met with in great numbers. By means of the ice, they often effect a landing on Iceland, but as soon as they appear, they are generally attacked by the inhabitants and destroyed. On the east coast of Greenland, they have appeared like flocks of sheep on a common.
The size of the bear is generally four or five feet in height, seven or eight in length, and nearly as much in circumference. Sometimes, however, the size is much larger. His paws are seven inches in breadth, and his claws two inches in length. His canine teeth, exclusive of the part in the jaw, are about an inch and a half in length. He has been known by the strength of his jaw to bite a lance in two, though made of iron half an inch in diameter. In the water he can be captured without much danger, but on land the experiment is hazardous. When pursued and attacked, he turns upon his enemies. He always, however, unless urged by hunger, retreats before men. His general walk is slow, but upon the ice he can easily outrun any man. If struck with a lance, he is apt to seize it in his mouth, and either bite it in two, or wrest it out of the hand. If shot with a ball, unless he is struck in the head, in the heart, or in the shoulder, he is enraged rather than depressed, and falls with increased power upon his pursuers. When shot at a distance, and able to escape, he has been observed to retire to the shelter of a hummock, and, as if conscious of the styptical effect of cold, apply snow with his paws to the wound.
The bear feeds on the kreng, or carcases of the whales, as they are left by the fishers; on seals, birds, foxes, and deer, when it can surprise them; on eggs, and indeed on any animal substance that comes within its power. The skin of the bear, when dressed with the hair on, forms beautiful mats for a hall or for the bottom of a carriage. Prepared without being ripped up, and the hairy side turned inward, it forms a very warm sack bed, and is used as such in some parts of Greenland. The flesh, when cleared of the fat, is well flavoured and savoury, especially the muscular part of the ham. I once treated my surgeon with a dinner of bears ham, and he did not know for above a month afterwards, but that it was beefsteak. The liver is very unwholesome.
Bears are remarkably affectionate towards their young, and peculiarly sagacious. The female has generally two at a birth. On one occasion, a mother bear with two cubs was pursued across a field of ice by a party of armed sailors. At first, she urged her young ones to increase their speed, but finding the pursuers gaining on them, she carried or pushed or pitched them alternately forward, until she effected their escape. The little creatures are said to have placed themselves across her path to receive her impulse, and when thrown forward they ran on till she overtook them, when they adjusted themselves for a second throw.
Many instances have been observed of the peculiar sagacity of these animals. A seal, lying on the middle of a large piece of ice, with a hole just before it, was marked out by a bear for its prey, and secured by the artifice of diving under the ice, and making its way to the hole by which the seal was prepared to retreat. The seal, however, observed its approach, and plunged into the water, but the bear instantly sprang upon it, and appeared in about a minute afterwards with the seal in its mouth.
The captain of one of the whalers being anxious to procure a bear without wounding the skin, made trial of the stratagem of laying the noose of a rope in the snow, and placing a piece of kreng within it. A bear, ranging the neighbouring ice, was soon enticed to the spot by the smell of burning meat. He perceived the bait, approached, and seized it in his mouth, but his foot, at the same moment, by a jerk of the rope being entangled in the noose, he pushed it off with the adjoining paw, and deliberately retired. After having eaten the piece he carried away with him he returned. The noose, with another piece of kreng, being then replaced, he pushed the rope aside, and again walked triumphantly off with the kreng. A third time the noose was laid, and this time the rope was buried in the snow and the bait laid in a deep hole dug in the centre. But Bruin, after snuffing about the place for a few minutes, scraped the snow away with his paw, threw the rope aside, and escaped unhurt with his prize.