at sea,
for his best hunting is among the ice-floes. Now he is rather rare
on the south-western coasts of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya which
are almost free of ice during summer, but more common on the
northern parts of these islands, which are almost always surrounded
by ice. Thus for instance during my many landings at Horn Sound,
Bell Sound, Ice Fjord, Foreland Sound, and King's Bay, on the west
coast of Spitzbergen, I have never seen a single bear. On the other
hand, bears were seen at nearly every resting-place during the boat
voyage I made in 1861 with Torell in Hinloopen Strait and along the
shores of the most northerly islands on Spitzbergen, also during the
sledge journey which Palander and I made in the spring of 1873
round North East Land. The Polar bear is besides found everywhere
along the north coast of Asia and America, apparently in greater
numbers the farther north we go. Sometimes too, first on ice
and then swimming, he has reached the north coast of Norway, for
instance, in March 1853, when, according to a statement in _Tromsoe
Stiftstidende_ (No. 4 for 1869), a Polar bear was killed in
Kjoellefjord in East Einmark.

The bear is not difficult to kill. When he observes a man he
commonly approaches in hope of prey, with supple movements, and in a
hundred zigzag bends, in order to conceal the direction he intends
to take, and thus keep his prey from being frightened. During his
approach he often climbs up on blocks of ice, or raises himself on
his hind legs, in order to get a more extensive view, or else stands
snuffing up the air with evident care in all directions, in order,
by the aid of smell, which he seems to rely upon more than sight, to
ascertain the true kind and nature of the surrounding objects. If he
thinks he has to do with a seal, he creeps or trails himself forward
along the ice, and is said then to conceal with the fore-paws the
only part of his body that contrasts with the white colour of the
snow--his large black nose. If one keeps quite still, the bear comes
in this way so near that one can shoot him at the distance of two
gun-lengths, or, what the hunters consider safer, kill him with the
lance. If an unarmed man falls in with a Polar bear, some rapid
movements and loud cries are generally sufficient to put him to
flight, but if the man himself flies, he is certain to have the bear
after him at full speed. If the bear is wounded, he always takes to
flight. He often lays snow upon t