154 TRUE BEAR STORIES.

tumble about at their ease and get fat at
the expense of their parent, who, after her
long abstinence, becomes gradually very
thin and weak. The whole family leave
their abode of snow when the sun is strong
enough to partially melt its roof. .

“The Polar bear is regularly hunted with
dogs by the Eskimo. The following ex-
tract gives an account of their mode of pro-
cedure:

“Let us suppose a bear scented out at
the base of an iceberg. The Eskimo ex-
amines the track with sagacious care, to
determine its age and direction, and the
speed with which the animal was moving
when he passed along. The dogs are set
upon the trail, and the hunter courses over
the ice in silence. As he turns the angle
of the berg his game is in view before him,
stalking along, probably, with quiet march,
sometimes snuffing the air suspiciously,
but making, nevertheless, for a nest of
broken hummocks. The dogs spring for-
ward, opening a wild, wolfish yell, the