158 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



one could go to the ice, for then only sailing-boats 

 went, and the wealth reaped from the voyages passed 

 mostly into the fishermen's pockets. Now all is revo- 

 lutionized, and the sealing is in the hands of half-a- 

 dozen firms, that send out big steamers, carrying 

 crews numbering as many as three hundred men. 

 Moreover, the value of seal-oil has greatly decreased, 

 and the expenses of the steamers eat up much of the 

 profit. There are not a few whom one hears growl- 

 ing, " Steam has ruined Newfoundland." 



The hair seal, " Phoca Greenlandica," must not be 

 confounded with the fur seal of the Pacific, for 

 though the former is found in the Pacific, the latter 

 is never found in the North Atlantic. The fur seal 

 is as a rule larger, has much longer hands and feet 

 in proportion to his body, and also a much longer 

 neck. He is apparently a much more powerful 

 swimmer. There are, however, several kinds of 

 hair seal. The largest is the hood seal. A truly 

 magnificent animal, and one that shows much 

 courage in defending himself against his enemies. 

 Sitting up on his tail and hind legs, he defends 

 himself with teeth and flippers, protecting his head 

 from injury by blowing out a bladder-shaped and 

 shot-proof excrescence on it. The usual method to 

 kill a seal is to hit it upon the nose with a club, 

 called a seal-bat, but when once fairly roused the 

 bull hood seal is invulnerable there. An old sealer 

 described to me a battle between one of these fellows 

 and a polar bear, in which he told us the seal only 



