60 NATUEAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



It is only tlie adult males (called " tigak," stinker, by tlie Eskimo) 

 tbat emit the horribly disagreeable, all-permeating, ever-penetrating 

 odor that has suggested its specific name. It is so strong that one can 

 smell an Eskimo some distance when he has been partaking of the flesh. 

 They say it is more nourishing than the flesh of the females, and that a 

 person can endure great fatigue after eating it. If one of these tigaTc 

 comes in contact Avith any other seal meat, it will become so tainted as 

 to be repulsive to an educated i^alate; even the atluk of the tigalc can 

 be detected by its odor. 



There is sometimes caught a hairless variety of this seal that the Es- 

 kimo call "okitook." I have seen one such skin. It had a few fine 

 curly hairs scattered over it, but they were very different in texture 

 from the ordinary hair. I do not know if the specimen otherwise dif- 

 fered from the ordinary seal. The food of the adults consists largely of 

 dift'erent species of crustaceans, and during winter especially they sub- 

 sist to a considerable extent upon fish. I have found in them the re- 

 mains of Cottus scorpius, C. grcenlandicus, Gadus ogac (commonly), and 

 Liimris vulgaris. During the time the adults shed for nearly a month 

 previous I could detect nothing but a few pebbles in their stomachs. 

 They become poor at this time, and will sink when shot in the water. 

 The milk is thick and rich, and is sometimes eaten by the natives. The 

 excrement looks like pale, thickly clotted blood. 



There are sometimes found albinos, of which the Eskimo tell marvelous 

 stories, one being that when they rise to breathe in their atluks they 

 come stern first, and, in fact, they think such animals have their breath- 

 ing apparatus on the posterior end of the body. I imagine this origi- 

 nated from a native once harpooning an albino in its atluk and finding 

 his harpoon fastened in one of the hind flippers. 



Toward spring, when the sun is shining brightly, these seals can be 

 seen in all directions basking on the ice. They are to all appearance 

 aslee]), but manage to wake up regularly every few minutes to make 

 sui'e that there is no danger about. At this season it is a favorite 

 method of the Eskimo to hunt them by crawling flat on his belly toward 

 the seal, and when discovered to imitate the itioA^ements of the animal, 

 and to advance only when the seal looks in the opposite direction. In 

 this manner they often approach so close as to be able to i)ush them 

 away from their atluks. This seal is of some commercial importance. 

 The Scotch whalers often buy from the natives during the winter a thou- 

 sand skins. These are brought with the blubber, and often cost the pur- 



