58 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



some have sliort and quite liispid liair. Tliey weigh at birth from four 

 to six and one-half pounds, but grow at an astounding rate, becoming 

 exceedingly fat in a few days. The blubber on the young a few days 

 old is almost white and thickly interspersed with blood-vessels; it is not 

 lit to burn. There is usually but one young at a birth; still twins are 

 not of rare occurrence, and one instance came under my observation 

 where there were triplets, but they were small, and two of them Avould 

 probably not have lived had they been born. The season for hunting 

 the young at lat. 07° N. begins about the middle of March and con- 

 tinues until the latter part of April. The first two weeks of Ai)ril are 

 the most productive, as later the hair is apt to be very loose, and many 

 even have large bare patches on them. 



When the season fairly oi)ens, the Eskimo liunter leaves the winter 

 encampment with his family and dog-team for some favorite resort of 

 this seal; he soon constructs his snow-hut, and is as well settled as if it 

 had been his habitation for years, for the seals he catches bring him 

 and his family food and fuel, and snow to melt water from is always 

 plenty, so that his wants are easily suppUed, and he is contented and 

 happy. 



The manner of hunting the young seal is to allow a dog to run on 

 ahead of the hunter, but having a strong seal skin line about his neck, 

 which the Eskimo does not let go of. The dog scents the seal in its ex- 

 cavation, which could not have been detected from the outside by the 

 eye, and the hunter, by a vigorous jumii, breaks down the cover before 

 the young seal can reach its atluk, and if he be successful enough to cut 

 off its retreat, it becomes an easy prey ; otherwise he must use his seal- 

 ing-hook very quickly, or his game is gone. It sometimes happens that 

 the hunter is unfortunate enough to jump the snow down directly over 

 the hole, and gets a pretty thorough wetting. The women often take 

 part in this kind of sealing, and many of them are quite expert. The 

 children begin when they are four or five years old. The teeth and flip- 

 pers of their first catch are saved as a trophy and worn about the little 

 fellow's neck. The next year when he begins, this will give him good 

 luck, they think. 



There exists a considerable spirit of rivalry among the mothers as to 

 whose offspring has done the best, size, i&c, considered. This runs to 

 such a high pitch that I have known some mothers to catch the seal, and 

 then let her child Idll it, so as to be able to swell the number of his 

 captures. 



