CARNIVOROUS QUADRUPEDS. 63 



motion, both as a sculling and steering oar. On land or 

 ice the movements of the Seal are very awkward, it being 

 carried along by the fore paws, while the hinder feet are 

 dragged along. Its body is covered with a glossy fur, 

 closely set to the skin, so as not to interfere with its 

 swimming, which it performs with great celerity. The 

 nostrils and the ears have valves, which the animal can 

 close when it goes under water, where it can, like the 

 Whale, remain for some length of time. 



102. The Seal is very useful to man. The many uses 

 to which it is appropriated by the Greenlanders are thus 

 spoken of by Crantz, a Danish traveler : " Its flesh sup- 

 plies them with their most palatable and substantial 

 food ; the fat furnishes them with oil for lamplight, 

 chamber and kitchen fire ; and whoever sees their hab- 

 itations presently finds that, even if they had a superflui- 

 ty of wood, it would be of no use they can use noth- 

 ing but oil in them. They also mollify their dry food, 

 mostly fish, with oil ; and, finally, they barter it for all 

 kinds of necessaries with the factors. They can sew bet- 

 ter with fibres of the Seal's sinews than with thread or 

 silk ; of the skins of the entrails they make window-cur- 

 tains for their tents, and shirts ; part of the bladder they 

 use as a float to their harpoons ; and they make oil-flasks 

 of the stomach. Neither is the blood wasted, but is boil- 

 ed with other ingredients and eaten as soup. Of the 

 skin of the Seal they stand in the greatest need, because 

 they must cover with seal-skins both the large and small 

 boats in which they travel and seek their provisions. 

 They must also cut out of them their thongs and straps, 

 and cover their tents with them, without which they 

 could not subsist in summer. No man, therefore, can 

 pass for a right Greenlander who can not catch Seals. 

 This is the ultimate end they aspire at in all their device 

 and labor from their childhood up." 



103. Seals exist in almost every quarter of the globe, 



but they are mostly found in the temperate and frozen 

 5 



