508 ACCOUNT OF THE AECTIC REGIONS. 



British. The Russians are their principal enemies, 

 who, by means of the hunting parties sent out to 

 winter on the coast, capture a considerable number. 

 The whale-fishers rarely take half a dozen in a voy- 

 age ; though my Father, in the last season, procur- 

 ed about 130 in Magdalane Bay. 



PHOC^. — Seals. 



Several species of seals occur in the Greenland Sea, 

 and resort to the ice in the neighbourhood of Spitz- 

 bergen and Jan Mayen in immense herds. The 

 young animals, which are most frequently killed, 

 are found in greatest abundance on the ice near Jan 

 Mayen, in the spring of the year, where they be- 

 come the object of a distinct fishery. Few British 

 ships are fitted out for this sole purpose, though 

 many vessels equipped only as sealers^ proceed an- 

 nually into the Greenland Sea, from different ports 

 of the Elbe and Weser. 



As the seal frequents the British coast, and is a 

 well described and well known animal, I shall not 

 particularise the different species that are met with 

 in the Arctic Seas. A few general observations 

 only, will be necessary. 



Seals are generally fat in the spring of the year, 

 and afford several gallons of blubber : even small 

 seals will then yield about four or five gallons of 

 oil. 



