[10.] 4. U rsus Maritimus. (Lin.). Polar or Sea Bear.
White Bear. Marten’s Spitz. Trans., p. 107, t. O', fig. c. An. 1675.
Ursus Maritimus. Lin. Syst.
Ursus Albus. Brisson, Règne Animal, p. 260, sp. 2. An. 1756.
L’onrs Blanc. Buef.on, vol. xv. p. 128. An. 1767«
Ursus Marinus. P allas’s It. vol. iii. p. 691, et Spic e l . ZooU xiv. 1.1. An. L780.
Polar Bear. P ennant’s Arctic Zoology, p. 53, and Introd. pp. lxxxix and cxciii. An. 1784.
Ursus Albus. Ross’s^ Voy., App. p. xliv. with a-plate of the head,. p. 199. An. 1820.
Ursus Maritimus. P arry’s First Voy., Supp. p. clxxxiii. F ranklin’s First Journey, p.648.
Parry’s Second Voy., App. p. 288:
. Bear. L yon’s Private Journal, pp. 13 and 377* An. 1824.
Wawpusk (pi. Wawpuskwuck). Cr e e Indians.
Nannook. Esquimaux. Nennook, Greenlanders.
Buffon had many doubts as to the Sea or Polar Bear being a distinct species
from the Land Bear, of which there are white varieties in the northern countries.
He acknowledges, however, that the distinctive characters which Marten, one of
its earliest describers, has pointed out, would, if correct, establish it as a peculiar
species. A further acquaintance with the animal has fully confirmed Marten’s
observations.
DESCRIPTION.
The Polar Bear is distinguished from the other species by its narrow head and muzzle prolonged
on a straight line with the flattened forehead ; its short ears ; long neck ; the greater
length of its body in proportion to its height ; the soles of the hind-feet equalling one-sixth of the
length of its body ; and, lastly, the quality of its fur, which is very thick and long on the body,
still more so on the limbs, and everywhere of a yellowish-white colour. The naked éxtremity
of the snout, the tongue, margins of the eyelids, and claws, are black ; the Kps purplish^
black ; the eyes dark brown, and the interior of the mouth pale violet". I
I have met with no account of any Polar Bear, killed of late years, which
exceeded nine feet in length, or four feet and a half in height. It is possible that
larger individuals may be occasionally found; but the greatness of the dimensions
attributed to them by the older voyagers has, I doubt not, originated in the skin
having been measured after being much stretched in the process of flaying.
Marten, who seems to have been a correct observer, expressly states that the
Polar Bear is of the same size with the German Bears.
The great power of the Polar Bear is portrayed in the account of a disastrous
accident which hefel the crew of Barentz’s vessel on his second voyage to Waigats
Straits. “ On the 6th of September, 1594, some sailors landed to search for a
certain sort of stone, a species of diamond. During this search, two of the
seamen lay down to sleep by one another, and a White Bear, very lean, approach^
ing softly, seized one of them by the nape of the neck. The poor man, not
knowing what it was, cried out, ‘ Who has seized me thus behind ? ’ on which his
companion, raising his head, said, 'Holloa, mate, it is a Bear,’ and immediately
ran away. The Bear having dreadfully mangle^ the unfortunate man’s head,
sucked the blood. The rest of the persons who were on shore, to the number
of twenty, immediately ran with their matchlocks and pikes, and found the Bear
devouring the body, which, on seeing them, ran upon them, and carrying another
man away, tore him to pieces. This second misadventure so terrified them, that
they all fled. They advanced again, however, with a reinforcement, and the two
pilots having fired three times without hitting the animal, the purser approached a
little nearer, and shot the Bear in the head, close by the eye. This did not cause
him to quit his prey, for, holding the body, which he was devouring always by the
neck, he carried it away as yet quite entire. Nevertheless, they then perceived
that he began himself to totter, and the purser and a Scotchman going towards
him, they gave him several sabre wounds, and cut him to pieces, without his
abandoning his prey*.”
In Barentz’s third voyage, a story is told of two Bears coming to the carcass of a
third one that had been shot, when one of them, taking it by the throat, carried it to
a considerable distance, over the most rugged ice, where they both began to eat it.
They were scared from their repast by the report of a musket, and a party of
seamen going to the place, found that, in the little time they were about it, they
had already devoured half the carease, which was of such a size that four men had
great difficulty in lifting the remainder f . In a manuscript account of Hudson’s
Bay, written about the year 1786, by Mr. Andrew Graham, one of Pennant’s
ablest correspondents, and preserved at the Hudson’s Bay House, an anecdote of a
different description occurs. u One of the Company’s servants who was tenting
abroad to procure rabbits (Lepus Americanus), having occasion to come to the
factory for a few necessaries, on his return to the tent passed through a narrow
thicket of willows, and found himself close to a White Bear lying asleep. As he
had nothing wherewith to defend himself, he took the bag off his shoulder and held
it before his breast, between the Bear and him. The animal arose on seeing the
man, stretched himself and rubbed his nose, and having satisfied his curiosity by
smelling at the bag, which Contained a loaf of bread and a rundlet of strong beer,
* Churchill’s Coll, óf Voy., vol. i. p. 88. + Ibid., vol. i. p. 115.