CHAP. XXXIV. MIGKATIOXS OF THE SEAL. 203 



swimmers, and can force their way up very formidable 

 rapids in rivers. We found tliem hunting sahnon and 

 trout at the foot of the first falls of the Moisie, above 

 the Grand Rapids, which have a fall of fifty feet in three 

 miles, and would appear to present an insuperable obstacle 

 to such an apparently unwieldy animal as the seal. 



The Harbour Seal, which is so common at the mouths 



' Owing to tliis formation, tlie seal is the best swimmer among the mam- 

 malia, with the exception of the cetacea ; and it succeeds in catching the 

 most active fish that are known, and, among others, the sahnon, of which it 

 seems to be very fond, and against which it wages a deadly war in the 

 estuaries of rivers. 



* Almost all kinds of seals couple in Jime ; and the females bring forth 

 their young (seldom more than one at a time) in ]March, on floating fields of 

 ice. The yoimg are born with white hair, and remain on the ice as long as 

 they are suckled by their mothers. At three or four weeks old they can 

 live in the water ; but for some months they continue to foUow their 

 motliers, who partly provide for their support, and defend them against the 

 attacks of other creatures. 



' Seals are fond of approaching the shore and landing on sandy beaches or 

 flat rocks, to bask in the sun ; but at the slightest noise, and especially if 

 they perceive the fishermen, they make for the sea, and disappear under its 

 waters. Nevertheless, if they are taken yoimg they are easily tamed, espe- 

 cially the common seal ; and they attach themselves to their masters, whom 

 they follow about everywhere, and for whom they seem to entertain an 

 affection as lively as that of the dog. 



' The herds of seals that frequent the Gulf of St. Lawrence arrive there in 

 the month of November. They come chiefly through the Straits of Belle 

 Isle. They keep very close in to the coasts either of Labrador or of New- 

 foundland, penetrating into aU the bays, and not going out far from land 

 when doubling the points and capes. They often stop to sport when they 

 find a favourable place for the pm-pose. It is then they are seen to dive 

 repeatedly, coming up again almost immediately, and to roll themselves 

 about, and beat the water with their hands. The fishermen call this brew- 

 ing, and hence the name of " brewer," given to those kinds found on our 

 coasts. 



'In winter they spread themselves through the Gulf in search of icebergs, 

 on which they live for several mouths. In the months of May and June 

 the herds of seals reappear on our coasts ; but then they pursue an opposite 

 course to that of the preceding autumn. Afterwards they go out of the 

 Gulf into the main ocean, and probably repair to Hudson's Bay and the 

 Arctic Seas.' — Report of Pierre Furtin, Esq. 



