From pages 138 - 140 of Nansen's book Farthest North: [ At 79 degrees North,
bears and foxes sighted. ]
" Friday, December 22d. A bear was shot last night. Jacobsen saw it first,
during his watch. He shot at it. It made off, and he then went down and told
about it in the cabin. Mogstad and Peter came on deck; Sverdrup was called,
too, and came up a little later. They saw the bear on his way towards the
ship again; but he suddenly caught sight of the gallows with the trap on the
ice to the west, and went off there. He looked well at the apparatus, then
raised himself cautiously on hishind-legs, and laid his right paw on the
cross-beam just beside the trap, stared for a little, hesitating, at the
delicious morsel, but did not at all like the ugly jaws round it. Sverdrup
was by this time out at the deckhouse, watching in the sparkling moonshine.
His heart was jumpinghe expected every moment to hear the snap of his trap.
But the bear shook his head suspiciously, lowered himself cautiously on to
allfours again, and sniffed carefully at the wire that the trap was fastened
by, following it along to where it was made fast to a great block of ice. He
went round this, and saw how cleverly it was all arranged, then slowly
followed the wire back, raised himself up as before, with his paw on the
beam of the gallows, had a long look at the trap, and shook his head again,
probably saying to himself, `These wily fellows have planned this very
cleverly for me.' Now he resumed his march to the ship. When he was 60 paces
of the bow Peter fired. The bear fell, but jumped up and again made off.
Jacobson, Sverdrup and Mogstad all fired now, and he fell among some
hummocks."
What were warm-booded mamals doing hundreds of miles from land? By that
I am referring to the New Siberian Islands, which aren't exactly teeming
with bears anyway- they are desolate and windswept from what I understand.
Where did these bears come from? At 79* North, Nansen was at the threshold
of the opening.
Dean