302 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



out of ten even with a body wound. As noted elsewhere, the 

 sinking of a large percentage in summer is probably due not so 

 much to the seals then being less fat and of a higher specific 

 gravity, as to the comparative freshness and diminished specific 

 gravity of the surface sea water, the fresh water of the rains and 

 thaws forming a surface layer on the ocean through which the 

 seals sink to the heavier, saltier water below. 



If the killed seal floats, and is not more than twenty to thirty 

 yards away, he is secured by the manak. A manak is a ball of 

 wood the size of a grapefruit. At its equator are three sharp re- 

 curved steel hooks and at one pole is a ring to which is attached 

 a long cod line or slender thong. The hunter holds the coiled 

 line cowboy-fashion in his left hand and with a fathom of free 

 rope he swings the manak about his head till it whizzes, and then 

 throws it somewhat as the South Americans are said to do the 

 bolas. You throw beyond the seal where he floats like a short 

 log in the water. Before pulling in you try to flip the line over 

 so that as you haul towards you it will drag over the seal. As 

 the manak is about to slide over the back of the seal you give a 

 sharp jerk, one of the hooks catches in the seal's skin and you 

 pull him to you. 



If the seal is too far off to be reached by the manak you con- 

 vert a tarpaulin and a sled into a sledboat, as already described 

 for crossing leads, and paddle out to the seal. 



When you come to open water you may see dozens of seals 

 swimming about, but again you may have to wait a dozen hours 

 before you see the first seal. You may see none the first day, 

 which requires a second day of watchful waiting. If you see none 

 the second day you watch a third day and, if needed, a fourth. 

 So far it has never happened to us that we did not secure a seal 

 within four days of watching; but if that did happen we would 

 simply continue waiting if we needed the meat and had no other 

 way of getting it. If you are on a "water hole" surrounded on 

 all sides by ice but slightly broken, you should not undertake a 

 wait of more than a few hours, for no seals may come. But if 

 you are on a lead of considerable length it is merely a question 

 of a few days at most till they arrive, for the great leads are their 

 highways. From your camp by a lead you may see no seal Mon- 

 day and Tuesday where a hundred may pass you on Wednesday 

 and Thursday. 



To understand the detection and securing of seals under the 

 ice our view must go back to the preceding summer. Each sue- 



