Bibliographical Notices. 475 



with blubber 2 or 3 inches thick, and worth for its oil (at present) 

 about 5 or 6 dollars, and one or two more for its skin — these are 

 points of interest in this seal. A bushel of nice fresh prawns, in the 

 stomach of one, was evidence of seals' diet. Medusae and Clios seem 

 also to be their food. The "Talking-seal" in London would have 

 eaten, it is said, a hundred pounds of fish a day, if it could have got it. 

 In cutting up some large seals in Deeva Bay, Mr. Lamont " found 

 the stomachs of several of them containing a bushel or so apiece of 

 small fish about 5 or 6 inches long and resembling young cod. I 

 believe," says he, " there are no fish of any size in the Spitzbergen 

 seas, for we tried often with hook and line and never caught a single 

 one" (p. IIG). 



" The Great Arctic Seal dives in exactly the same manner as the 

 walrus — I mean by making a semi-revolution, whale-fashion, as he 

 goes down ; but, singularly enough, the Small Seal of Spitzbergen 

 {Phoca vitulina), called by the hunters the ' Stein-Cobbe,' from his 

 habit of occasionally lying on the rocks [the great seal being found 

 on the ice only], dives by suddenly dropping himself under water, 

 his nose being the last part of him which disappears, instead of his 

 tail, as with his great congeners Phoca barbata and the walrus." 

 The small seal, much less abundant than the large seal, " has a 

 very fine spotted skin, and is about 60 or 70 lbs. in weight ; he is 

 much fatter, in proportion to his size, than Phoca barbata ; and, his 

 carcase in consequence having less specific gravity in proportion to 

 its bulk, he floats much longer after he is killed in the water, so that 



they are seldom lost after being shot" (p. 155) "There 



is also a third variety of Seal found in the Spitzbergen seas (Phoca 

 htsjjida 1), the ' Springer ' or ' Jan Mayen Seal,' as he is called by 

 the hunters." This seal is gregarious, the others are solitary in their 

 habits. It swims rapidly in bands of from 50 to 200, leaping simul- 

 taneously (porpess-fashion) at wide intervals. This seal is very rare 

 at Spitzbergen, but enormously abundant to the westward amongst 

 the vast ice-fields around Jan Mayen' s Island : it weighs from 200 

 to 300 lbs., and is the fattest and most buoyant of all the Arctic 

 Phocce. 



Mr. Lamont soon brings us into acquaintance with the Walruses 

 also, — a cow-walrus and calf among them ; these latter give the har- 

 pooner an opportunity of showing how the possession of the calf or 

 "junger," and making it grunt and cry, enable the hunters to bring 

 a whole herd of walruses within reach of the harpoon or rifle. 



A full-sized old bull-walrus weighing 3000 lbs. may yield some 

 600 lbs. of blubber, with only about double the quantity of oil that 

 a good seal yields. Its hide is worth from four to eight dollars, and 

 is used for harness, soles, rigging, and for glue : while seal-skins are 

 converted into " dog-skin " gloves, " Dundee kid," &c. Young 

 walrus is stated to be " good meat and without the disagreeable fishy 

 flavour of seal, but slightly insipid." 



Walruses frequent the ice-floes in water at from 10 to 15 fathoms ; 

 they "cannot descend in more than about 25 fathoms." Towards 

 the end of August they herd on islands or the mainland, in secluded 



31* 



