A scene in the Arctic showing a bear hunt. On the left is a Dutch whaling flute with a spar over the stern for moving her through the ice. It is also shown with a line to anchor it to the ice. Behind, a high wall of ice, possibly a berg rises up. To the right is an ice floe with a circle of hunters on it surrounding a polar bear. Beyond is another similar whaling vessel. In the foreground on the right is another ice floe with a bear attacking a man, who is lying prostrate on the ice. The incident is watched by two small boatloads of sailors. The scene is dominated by grey tones against which is contrasted the whiteness of the ice. The earliest trades in North America were whaling and harvesting skins and furs. Settlers there had been hunting bears since the middle of the seventeenth century, as Native Americans had done before them.