36o THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Appx. 



absence in this seal of the scars and rents which disfigure so many 

 of the Crab-eaters. 



In McMurdo Sound we had an abundance of Weddell seals 

 around us throughout the summer months, and as they spent 

 most of their time in sleeping on the ice outside their blow-holes, 

 there was no difficulty whatever in supplying the ship's company 

 with meat. 



But in the winter months there was often a scarcity, as the 

 seals preferred to remain in the water below the ice, breathing 

 and sleeping at their blow-holes, and along the coastal tide-cracks, 

 instead of coming up to lie in the bitter wind and lower tempera- 

 tures that were constant during the darkness of the winter. 

 At this time it was found feasible by certain of the crew to harpoon 

 them as they came up to breathe, and land them on the ice with a 

 line ; and the contents of the stomach on these occasions proved 

 especially interesting, as they included whole fish just swallowed 

 of a kind which we were unable in any other way to obtain. 



The Weddell seal is perhaps the most handsome of all that I 

 have mentioned. Measuring upwards of nine to ten feet, and 

 having a girth of from six to seven, this enormous beast has a coat 

 richly marked with black and grey and silvery white ; the upper 

 parts are the darkest, but below these shades are blended in a 

 most striking manner. 



In character the seal is wholly devoid of fear until actually 

 and intentionally annoyed or frightened. Lying on the ice by its 

 open breathing hole, as often on its back as on its belly, it will 

 merely wake to glance at the strange intruder and then often go to 

 sleep again. At times it exhibits a certain amount of nervousness 

 and rolls over the better to gaze at the disturber of its peace, 

 blinking and blowing through its nostrils the while in an unwonted 

 endeavour to realise the unusual condition of things before it. 

 Sometimes it is induced to lope away, with suspicious glances 

 over its back from time to time, to see whether anyone is following. 

 If this actually happens, it may get really scared, and losing all its 

 dignity at once, may hurriedly flop itself along with a breathless, 

 quivering, blubber-burdened haste, which shows how seldom the 

 necessity for speed arises except in its aquatic life. 



The young of the Weddell seal, the only species whose breed- 

 ing habits we were able to observe, were born during the last week 

 of October and the beginning of November. They lay on the ice 

 at the mouth of the blow-holes, which the parents kept open for 



