The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-08-29
ARE FURIOUS FIGHTERS
THE POLAR BEARS PROVE TER-
 RORS IN SCRAPS.

@-- -Ns Owing to the exceptional rigors of the ast winter along Baffinland and Lab- ador, the polar bears have had to lander off among the ice foes in great
 numbers than usual in quest of the calls upon which they chiefly feed. and
 he crews of the Newfoundland sealing & leet, just back from their annual hunt, Tell many stories of encounters with . hese monsters.
 . When he is well fed the polar bear is asiIy worsted, but if hungry he fights yith fury. Hence encounters with ears are not sought, unless rifemen re included in the party: but some times there is no alternative. This sea- g on, on one occasion, several men rmed only with seal clubs had to fight n old male bear.
 One man thought he saw a seal be- < ind a hummock and started after it, second following him. Just as the < irst topped the hummock, he raised his Hub and struck, when to his horror he Mound he had hit polar bear over the q 4nout. The bear turned on him with [ n angry growl and would have dis
 nembered him with a single stroke, < ghen the second man got i'll and hit
 i'm on the snout also This blow half tunned him and he fell backwards into
 small hole of water. Still, though ! azed, he struggled to get out, and so here was nothing for it but to fight
 him, and this the men did successfully, E he whole seven joining in the struggle.
 fka1 mothers thigh and splintered the arm < if third before he gave in. His skin < md fat weighed 400 pounds, and his
 arcass probably as much more, so that sle was as bulky as small horse.
 # On another occasion there was a S*ierce fight, within full view of the % hips crew, between a bear and six
 linen. Bruin had been asleep for the
 Eight on a small pan of ice and was Awakened in the early morning by the Bound of the steamers whistle, blown &o call the crew to their days toll. The 4 bear, aroused from slumber, raised him. elf on his hind paws with a mighty # srowl, as if in challenge to the ship. His
 defiance was accepted in this sense by ix young seamen, who promptly made him with only their clubs.
 & The bear was unable to leave the #malI pan he was on, owing to six ene- &nies assailing him, and so had to fight #t out there. He made game defense, %, notwithstanding all attacks of his < #Ldversaries. One of these struck at him #Nith e club, but he reared up, caught it In his mouth and jerked it from the
 owners hands, and, shaking it as a ter
 fer would rat, hurriedly banged at & he owner with it and felled him sense- less with blow over the head. The other assailants he kept off also in the & lame way, and it was not until a man * lame from the ship with rifle and put &our bullets through him that he #showed any weakening. At last he be- Mame dazed, an da well directed blow the snout stunned him, while a *shower more apparently killed him. A rope was lashed around his body
 md he was swung up by the ships
 winch to be got on board, but just as
 le came over the rail the rroap broke
 And he disappeared from view in the
 water. The cold bath revived him, for
 n about five minutes he was seen to
 emerge in blow hole in a foe, and,
 kfter two or three painful attempts,
 painfully climb onto high pan. Three
 Snen were at once dispatched after him,
 Ind he was stunned, stabbed to the
 heart and then dragged to the ship to < lbe skinned. He was nearly nine feet
 Eong and twelve feet in largest girth, lind was altogether formidable adver-
 I6ary.
 E Men who go to the seal fisheries for |Ithe sport or experience as passengers Ln the ships of the fleet usually derive |llheir keenests enjoyment from stalking 4polar bears, as it is quite a novel form f)Sf big game hunting. The scene is the &he great floating ice field, and from nummock to hummock. and berg to tberg, the hunter will dog his prey until 8A lucky shot will enable him to bring Blown the victim.
 Ei Sealing captains will never let their $guests go off unattended on such mis- 4 sson but send couple of expert rifle z&nen with them, as at times Mr. and Mrs. Bear an dtheir offspring may be at Hhome on the foe, and they would be #ather too formidable a combination for sHhe inexperienced hunter
 M The Esquimaux of Greenland and E68affin Land are notable bear hunters. EIThe Esquimaux have trained their dogs 8eo run the creatures down and torment Sdhem until they can come Up them- BBelves and give the quietus with lance Rsbr gun. The daring of the EsquimauX sAhunters is great, and they will attack 5Ghe unfuriated bear the moment they nome within striking range.
 |o In Northern Labrador they are also ao be got in goodly numbers. Last sea son a Newfoundland fishing skipper 9lqound two of them ertangled in his Aaets in OBrien harbor at the entrance |at6 UngaVa oay, and was able to kill |lthem with but little trouble. Another tkipper sighted a third and sent two cnen in a boat after him, but their first rshot only wounded the brute and he cnade back at them, upset and tore ahpart their boat and badly gashed ono |epi the men before the schooner ran Clown and poured whole battery oi dbullets into him. ...-.- ~
 A The Hudson Bay Company's factors
 Aare always keen to secure skins of this aMhite water bear. Last year one sta
 Sion secured fourteen of these skins, the
 ahargest of which measured thirteen feet
 ehnd brought $15 at the company's annu-
 VI, ,,,o+;o,i il, J,ondon Another station