but one has to make haste to get hold of the killed animal with a
harpoon or in some other way, for it speedily sinks, unless it is
very fat.

The walrus-hunting vessels from Tromsoe brought home in 1868 twenty,
in 1869 fifty-three, in 1870 ninety-eight, in 1871 seventy-four, and
in 1872 thirty-three bears. It may be inferred from this that the
Norwegian walrus-hunters kill yearly on an average at least a
hundred bears. It is remarkable that in this large number a pregnant
female or one with newly-born young is never found.[68] The female
bear appears to keep herself well concealed during the time she is
pregnant; perhaps in some ice-hole in the interior of the country.

Whether the Polar bear hibernates during winter is not quite
settled; various facts, however, point in this direction. For
instance, he disappears almost completely from wintering stations
during the dark time, and holes have sometimes been met with in
which bears were concealed. Thus it once happened to Tobiesen that
he went down with one foot into such a hole, to the no small dismay
not only of the experienced walrus-hunter, but also of the bear.

It is also stated that the bear during the dark time goes to the
edge of the ice to seek his food. I cannot say positively whether
this is the case or not; but the fact points in an opposite
direction, that while only a single bear was seen in the course of
the winter in the open water in the neighbourhood of our winter
station at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, Palander and I almost daily saw
bears on the hard frozen sea north of North East Land. Tracks of
bears were visible there in all directions on the ice, and along
with them light, sinuous traces of the fox. There were, on the other
hand, no seal holes to be found, and it was accordingly difficult to
understand wherefore the bears had chosen just this desolate stretch
of ice as their haunt. The bears that were killed were besides
uncommonly lean, the fat which they yielded being scarcely available
as fuel for the sledge-party's cooking apparatus.

During their extended excursions after prey the male and the female,
the latter generally attended by one or two large young ones, keep
each other company. Larger numbers are seldom seen together, unless
at places where a good many carcases of walruses, seals, or white
fish are lying.

In former times the sight of a bear created great dismay in Polar
travellers, but now the walrus-hunters do not hesitate a momen