THE CLAPPER HUNT. -107 



or the hand, or even the neck, as it sometimes does in 

 windy weather, or if the Seal should turn suddenly to the 

 other side of the hoat, it cannot be otherwise than the 

 ' Kajak ' must be overturned, and drawn down under 

 water. On such desperate occasions the poor Green- 

 lander stands in need of all his art to disentangle himself 

 from the string, and raise himself up from under water 

 several times successively. Nay, when he imagines him- 

 self to be out of all danger, and comes too near the dying 

 Seal, it may still attack him ; and a female Seal that has 

 young, instead of Hying the field, will sometimes fly at its 

 pursuer in the most vehement rage, and do him a mischief 

 or bite a hole in his 'Kajak,' that he must sink." 



The Greenlanders, Crantz informs us further, also 

 capture this, as well as other species of Seal, by what is 

 called the Clapper Hunt, which is prosecuted by numbers 

 in concert. "As the natives are ever on the watch, so soon 

 as they discover a herd driven, usually by stormy weather, 

 into some creek or inlet, they endeavour to cut off their 

 retreat, and frighten them under water by shouting, 

 clapping, and throwing stones. As, however, they must 

 speedily come to the surface to respire, they persecute 

 them again till they are tired, and at last are obliged to 

 stay so long above water, that they are surrounded and 

 killed by long and short lances. During this hunt we 

 have a fine opportunity of seeing the agility of the Green- 

 landers, or, if I may call it so, their hussar manoeuvres. 

 When the Seal rises out of the water, they all fly upon 

 him as if they had wings, with a desperate noise ; the 

 poor creature is forced to dive again directly, and the 

 moment he does, they disperse again as fast as they came, 

 and every one gives heed to his post, to see where it will 

 start up again, which is an uncertain thing, and is com- 

 monly three-fourths of a mile from the former spot. If 

 the Seal has a good broad water, three or four leagues 



