We all remember Captain Phipps's (now Lord Mulgrave) last voyage of
discovery to the north. I accompanied the captain, not as an officer,
but as a private friend. When we arrived in a high northern latitude I
was viewing the objects around me with the telescope which I introduced
to your notice in my Gibraltar adventures. I thought I saw two large
white bears in violent action upon a body of ice considerably above the
masts, and about half a league distance. I immediately took my carbine,
slung it across my shoulder, and ascended the ice. When I arrived at
the top, the unevenness of the surface made my approach to those animals
troublesome and hazardous beyond expression: sometimes hideous cavities
opposed me, which I was obliged to spring over; in other parts the
surface was as smooth as a mirror, and I was continually falling: as I
approached near enough to reach them, I found they were only at play. I
immediately began to calculate the value of their skins, for they were
each as large as a well-fed ox: unfortunately, at the very instant I was
presenting my carbine my right foot slipped, I fell upon my back, and
the violence of the blow deprived me totally of my senses for nearly
half an hour; however, when I recovered, judge of my surprise at finding
one of those large animals I have been just describing had turned me
upon my face, and was just laying hold of the waistband of my breeches,
which were then new and made of leather: he was certainly going to carry
me feet foremost, God knows where, when I took this knife (showing a
large clasp knife) out of my side-pocket, made a chop at one of his
hind feet, and cut off three of his toes; he immediately let me drop and
roared most horribly. I took up my carbine and fired at him as he ran
off; he fell directly. The noise of the piece roused several thousand
of these white bears, who were asleep upon the ice within half a mile of
me; they came immediately to the spot. There was no time to be lost. A
most fortunate thought arrived in my pericranium just at that instant.
I took off the skin and head of the dead bear in half the time that some