MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



557 



a wedding feast, fancying that if 

 they did not come cleanly and 

 neatly dressed, the whale, who 

 cannot bear slovenly and dirty 

 habits, would shun them and fly 

 from them. This is the manner 

 of their expedition: about fifty 

 persons, men and women, set out 

 together in one of the large boats, 

 called kone boat ; the women 

 carry along witli them their sew- 

 ing tackles, consisting of needles 

 and thread, to sew and mend 

 their husbands' spring coats, or 

 jackets, if they should be torn or 

 pierced through, as also to mend 

 the boat, in case it should receive 

 any damage; the men go in search 

 of the whale, and when they have 

 found him they strike him with 

 their harpoons, to which are fast- 

 ened lines or straps two or three 

 fathoms long, made of seal skin, 

 Dt the end of which they tie a bag 

 of a whole seal skin, filled with 

 air, like a bladder ; to the end that 

 the whale, when he finds himself 

 wounded, and runs away with the 

 harpoon, may the sooner be tired, 

 the air bag hindering him from 

 keeping long under water. When 

 he grows tired, and loses strength, 

 they attack him again with their 

 spears and lances, till he is killed, 

 and then they put on their spring 

 coats, made of dressed seal skin, all 

 of one piece, with boots, gloves, 

 and caps, sewed and laced so tight 

 together that no water can pene- 

 trate them. In this garb they 

 jump into the sea, and begin to 

 slice the fat of him all round the 

 body, even under the water; for 

 in these coats they cannot sink, 

 as they are always full of air; so 

 that they can, like tiie seal, stand 

 upright in the sea : nay they are 

 toiuetimes so daring, that thej 



will get upon the whale's back 

 while there is yet life in him, to 

 make an end of him, and cut away 

 his fat. 



They go much the same way 

 to work in killing of seals, except 

 that the harpoon is lesser, to 

 which is fastened a line of seal 

 skin six or seven fathoms long, at 

 the end of which is a bladder or 

 bag made of a small seal skin 

 filled with air, to keep the seal, 

 when he is wounded, from diving 

 under the water, and being lost 

 again. In the northern parts, 

 where the sea is all frozen over in 

 the winter, tiiey use other means 

 in catching of seals. They first 

 look out for holes, which the seals 

 themselves make with their claws, 

 about the bigness of a halfpenny, 

 that they may fetch their breath; 

 after they have found any hole, 

 they seat themselves near it upon 

 a chair, made for this purpose; 

 and as soon as they perceive the 

 seal come up to the hole and put 

 his snout into it for some air, they 

 immediately strike him with a 

 small harpoon, which they have 

 ready in their hand, to which 

 harpoon is fastened a strap a 

 fathom long, which they hold 

 with the other hand. After he is 

 struck, and cannot escape, they 

 cut the hole so large, that they 

 may get him up through it ; and 

 as soon as they have got his head 

 above the ice, they can kill hira 

 with one blow of the fist. 



A third way of catching seals 

 is this : they make a great hole 

 in the ice, or, in the spring, they 

 find out holes made by the seals, 

 through which they get upon the 

 ice to lie and bask themselves in 

 the sun. Near to these holes 

 they place a low bench, upon 



which 



