490 FAMILY PHOCIDJS. 



of one or more hundreds. The main body is now at hand, and 

 during the greater part of the next two days one continuous, 

 uncountable crowd is constantly in sight. The whole proces- 

 sion coasts along at no great distance from the shore, pre- 

 senting to an eye-witness a most extraordinary scene. In all 

 quarters, as far as the eye can carry, nothing is visible but 

 Seals the sea seems paved with their heads. Some idea may 

 be formed of the vast multitude when we consider the time 

 occupied in passing, and the rate at which the animals are 

 hurried along by the ceaseless, rapid stream which forms the 

 highway of their long though expeditious voyage. The rear is 

 brought up by small parties, such as formed the leading detach- 

 ments. In one short week the whole host passes, consisting of 

 many hundreds of thousands. The current of which these 

 sagacious voyagers take advantage is the well-known polar 

 current which proved so inimical to the success of our North- 

 West Passage discoverers, and which sets through Hudson's 

 Bay, and sweeps the coast of Labrador in a south-east direc- 

 tion ; running at all seasons at the rate of several knots an 

 hour, hurling with it, during the winter and spring, quanti- 

 ties of ponderous field-ice, together with numerous icebergs of 

 various size, and frequently of most grotesque shapes. By it 

 the Seals continue their passage steadily on in one unbroken 

 course until the island of Belleisle presents an obstacle situ- 

 ated in the entrance of the Straits of Belleisle, into which 

 a branch of the current sets, carrying with it a portion of the 

 force towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The main body con- 

 tinue onward until they reach the Gulf Stream, on the banks 

 of Newfoundland. Here they arrive about the end of Decem- 

 ber or early in January, and halt for a time in the more still 

 and warmer waters of that locality, resting until the time for 

 bringing forth their young arrives; nor is the rest of long 

 duration. About the end of January it becomes necessary to 

 turn northward. During the southerly migration no ice en- 

 cumbered the way all circumstances were favorable ; but now 

 the new projected movement is undertaken under many im- 

 pediments; the animals, heavy with young, must stem the 

 strong current; the bed on which their snow-white cubs are to 

 be laid is solid ice. Onward they struggle until they fall in 

 with the immense continent of this material one part of which 

 is formed on the shores and a much larger portion hurried for- 

 ward by the Polar Stream. This now covers the identical sea 



