The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1895-03-15
POLAR BEARS THAT GREW
The Nearer the Hunters Got the
Bigger They Seemed.
AZ Last They Reached the Apparent Sise
OF Elephants-TbeirG Great Foot.
prints-The Polar Bear In
the Smithsonian.

Under the lee Of the cliffs of Halls
island, in Behring sea, the United
States revenue cutter Corwin lay at
anchor waiting for better weather.
She was rolling heavily in the under
tow sent round the point by the strong
southwest gale, while fierce Wilt
waughs, eddying down from the noun
tain SUBMITS, shook her spars until
the hull quivered. The dressed quar-
ters Of two polar bears hung on the
boat spans, and their beautiful skins,
loosely salted, lay IN the launch along
with the tusks of walrus.
Assembled in the wardroom, enioy-
ing their after-dinner pipes that even
ing, those officers whose duties did not
call them to the deck discussed the
events of the cruise. especially the re-
cent bear hunts. Some were old hands, it
being their third or fourth season in
these waters, while others were new
and full of delight at their recent sue
cess. Lient. Cantwell, though in age
a youngster, was in service a veteran,
having passed the two previous seasons
In arctic voyages and explorations.
He had distinguished himself by cour-
age and readiness in various ways that
try mems nerve and pluck, and bear
hunts were not new to him. During
lull in the conversation he broke out
with.
Talk about bears! Why, these we've
taken this cruise are nothing. You
should have been up here with us in
's5. Bears were thick then, and bigl
We got one that looked as big as an
elephant to me when suddenly found
myself close to him. He weighed six
teen hundred pounds"
How did you get him? Tell us about
him." came in several voices.
well, you see, we came here on pur-
pose, and, as Uncle Remus says: We
hat ter git i'm cause we were ordered
to. Some of our officers, on the return
from the voyage OF the year before,
had reported huge bears on st. Mat
thew's and Halls islands. Prof. Baird
the secretary for permission to send
one of his staff in the ship and investi-
gate these beasts. So we had on board
as passenger Charles w. Townsend,
representing the Smithsonian, an ex-
pert in birds, beasts and reptiles.
1--WE made Halls island in due time,
and on nearing the land saw the ruined
barrabaras of the old Russian settle
ment over yonder which Douglass, the
pilot, told us about. While pointing
out this place to Towpsend, and laying
plans for a bear hunt, we saw two
small white objects on the beach, a
mile or more away. They might have
been cakes Of ice, but they were not,
for they moved and were evidently
alive. They could be but one kind Of
thing, and that was bears. Soon every
man that could command glass was
looking at them. We youngsters, who
had come primed for big game, were
disappointed at their small size.
We thought them not bigger than New
foundland dogs, and hardly worth
chasing However, they were bears,
such as they were, and, of course, were
to be hunted, SO we went boldly to
work to compass their slaughter The
launch was cleared away, and large
party of us, as many as could well go,
with our rifles and ammunition, showed
off and pulled for the shore.
''On our nearing the beach these
small objects showed somewhat larger
than when seen from the ship, and
seemed now as big as half-grown
calves. Before there was time for them
to get any larger they had seen or