Mar. 1S5S. 



SEAL'S CA VE. 



75 



day, so we had fried liver and steaks for breakfast this 

 morning ; both were good, but the steaks were preferred ; 

 they were very dark and very tender, had been cut thin, 

 deprived of all fat, and washed in two or three waters to get 

 rid of the blubber. I doubt if seals breed in this drifting 

 pack, we have not seen one of their cubs as yet. They 

 contrive to make an excavation or cell in the ice, usually 

 amongst hummocks, and large enough to contain two or 

 three seals; in this "gelid cavern " the young ones are born, 

 it is only a few inches above the water, has a very small 

 breathing hole through the roof, and a large one through 

 which they dive into the sea. When the weather becomes 

 warm enough, they break a hole through the roof and come 

 up on the ice, where they bask in the sun, and — 



" Flounce and tremble in unwieldy joy." 



I have been into one of these caverns and noticed that the 

 ice admitted quite sufficient light, whilst the icicles hanging 



UPPER SURFACE 



Section of Seal's Cave in the Ice. 



from it shewed that it had also enough warmth, imparted 

 from the animals themselves, to occasion a partial thaw. 

 How often may we not have walked unconsciously over 



