304 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



reasons for the view which was universally held that seals were 

 non-existent in the deep polar ocean far from land. Bears are 

 really absent from these areas because they lack the ability to get 

 seals there and not because the seals are absent. 



Man alone would not succeed any better than the bear in find- 

 ing seals on the large areas of fairly level ice far at sea, but man 

 and the dog in partnership combine the needed abilities. A man 

 and a trained bear could do as well. 



The breathing holes of seals are sometimes seen on patches of 

 ice swept bare of snow by the wind, but these holes have usually 

 been abandoned by the seal. The ones in actual use are generally 

 covered with snow so no eye can see them and no faculty of man 

 detect, and only bear or dog can find them by the sense of smell. 

 While this ability does the bear no good if the ice is too strong to be 

 broken, the ingenuity of man is equal to the task of securing the seal. 



If a man who has no interest in seals, or to whom it has never 

 occurred that any might be near, drives a dog-team over snow- 

 covered ice and finds them wanting to stop and sniff the snow, 

 he urges them on impatiently, imagining the dogs trying to find 

 an excuse to shirk. But if you believe that seals are found here 

 and there all over the polar ocean, you will infer when a dog wants 

 to pause and sniff the snow that a seal's breathing hole is con- 

 cealed underneath. This inference is usually right, for there are 

 few other things up there that smell. 



If you allow it, the dogs may begin to dig in the snow as a 

 dog would for a rodent. You must not permit it, for daylight 

 in the breathing hole will scare the seal. The dogs' usefulness is 

 over when they have scented out the holes. You lead or drive them 

 to a distance of a few score yards where they lie down and sleep 

 while your part of the work is on. 



After quieting the dogs you go back, take a long rod like a 

 slender cane and with it poke and prod the snow till the rod 

 slips through into water. Now the hole is exactly located. You 

 withdraw the cane and fill the hole made by it with soft snow to 

 prevent clear daylight from entering. Then, by scraping with 

 your hunting knife or by cutting blocks you remove most of the 

 snow from over the hole, leaving a layer of only a few inches. 

 Next you take an ivory "indicator" that much resembles a coarse 

 knitting needle and stick it down through the snow so that its 

 lower end passes through the breathing hole and is immersed in 

 the water. When the seal rises to breathe his nose will strike this 

 indicator and shove it upwards. You are now standing motion- 



