Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1867-08-16
LIFE AT THE POLE.


summer, tho scale, which furnish their
only subsistence, crawl upon the ice
and arc easily caught but in tho
winter they only resort to the cracks
to breathe, and in doing 80, barely
put their noses above the water, 10
that they are takon with difficulty.
Driven to desperation by hunger,
the bears often will invade the haunts
of man, in search Of the food which
their quick sense has detected.
I had an adventure, about this time,
which shows that tho Polar bear is
not so ferocious as is generally sup
posed; indeed, they have never been
known TO attack man except when
hotly pursued and driven to close
quarters. Strolling, ono day, along
the shore, was observing, with much
interest, the effect of the recent spring
tides upon the ice foot, when rounding
a point of land, suddenly found my
self confronted in the faint moonlight
by an enormo"s bear. lie had Just
sprung down from the land leo, and
was meeting mo at full trot. We
caught sight Of each other ut the same
instant. Being without rifle or
other means Of def. 80, l wheeled
suddeuly to the ship, with, fancy,
much the same reflections about dis
crotion and valor as those which
crossed the mind Of old Jack Fulstaff
when the Douglass set upor him !;
but finding, after tew lengthy strid-
es, that l was not gobblcd up, l look
cd back over my shoulder, when, as
much 10 my surprise AZ qualification,
l saw the bear tearing away toward
Tho open water with Il cclority which
left 40 doubt as to tho state Of his
miad- l suppose it would be d flcuIt
TO determine which WAS tho most
frightened-tbe bear 9: |.
Tho troops of foxes about u were
ut first quite tame; but they had been
cured Of their familiarity hy the les
sons learned from tho hunters, as,d
had to be- approached with alroi.nes as
OF both tho blue and white varieties
i had living specimens in my cabin.
These two varieties of the fox, not
withstanding their many points of
resemblance. arc evidentally distinct
species. l have known thom TO mix,
the coat of each preserving its distinc.
tive hue, that Of tho bluo fox vary
ing merely in distinctive shade, while
tho white changes only from the pure
white to slightly yellowish tinge.
Their skins ore much sought aflor by
the trappers of South Greenland,
where the animal is rare, for tho fur
commands fabulous price III the Co.
penhagen market.
The tough, nearly hairless hides of
:Ahe Great Sea Lions, which are about
an inch thick, had /. singularly iron
plated look about them, particularly
suggestive of defense; while their
huge 3tusks, which they brandisled
with;an appearance of strength that
their. .awkRardness did not diminish,
looked like very formidable weapons
of offanse if applied to boat splank-
ing or to the human ribs, if ono
should happon TO find himself Aoun-
dering in the sea among tho thick
skinned brutcs. TO complete tho
hideousncss Of a facial expression
which the tuslzs rendor formidable
enough in appearance, nature had
endowed them with broad fiat noses,
which are covered oil over with stiff
whiskers, looking very much like
porcupine quilts, and extending up TO
tho edge Of a pair Of gaping nostrils.
The use of these whiskers is as OBJ
seure as that of the tuslzs though it
is proba bio that tho latter may be as
Swelt weapons Of oftense' and defense
as for the most useful purpose
of graphing up from the bottom Of
the sea the mollusks which constitute
their principal food. There were
two Old bulls in tho herd, who ap-
peared to be dividing their time be.
tween sleeping and jamming their
,tusks in each others faces, although
they appeared to treat the matter
so.