‘\ 
An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 69 
the Bearded Seal are Arctic, or, as TorELL terms them “inhabitants 
of the Glacial Zone.” Moreover they are circumpolar, and the Ringed 
Seal, in particular, is met with far down in the Temperate Zone. One 
has come across the Ringed Seal throughout the whole of the Smith 
Sound passage, and it seems that Sverprup’s Expedition first proved 
its northern limit, which runs north of Parry Islands and in 90° W. 
long. to Grinnell Land. It occurs in quantities along the north coast of 
the American Continent and around Bering Strait as far as 60° N. lat. 
Its favourite abode is in long and deep fjords or inside skerries, where 
the water during nine months of the year is covered by smooth winter 
ice, and in such places it is found all the year round, sometimes in im- 
mense quantities. Fasrictus! says of this seal: ‘The ice is its proper 
element, on which and in the presence of which it prefers to be. 
This, however, must be understood to mean the firm, flat ice, not 
the drift-ice, where it is seldom found, except on the loose pieces 
which calve out from the fjords.” W1nGE® says of the Ringed Seal 
that “it iikes best to be where ice is lying; it prefers the firm, flat 
ice, and for this reason lives preferably in fjords which are frozen 
over during the whole year; it then, itself, pushes and scratches holes 
in the ice and the overlying snow, in order to be able to blow, or, 
in addition, to creep up to rest, or it helps itself by means of holes 
or eracks which appear during ebb-tide and flood-tide, or by the 
calving of the icebergs.” In the spring it brings forth its young in 
a snow burrow, and, when the snow melts owing to the rays of the 
sun, creeps up on the ice to sun itself. Besides being caught by 
the commonly employed Maupok method, and, also, at the spring- 
hunting of the seals lying on the ice (Utok hunting), it is caught in 
nets in some places in Alaska, and, in recent times, has in many 
places been captured with firearms. While the quantities of Ringed 
Seal provide the Eskimo with nutriment and fuel, the Bearded Seal, 
which occurs in small numbers, is significant on account of its strong 
skin, because this provides material for thongs and coverings for boats. 
It is also a very northern form, which by preference keeps to the 
great surface of water outside the fjords. It is found at Greenland and ¥ 
in the Archipelago. Murpocu® mentions it at Point Barrow. Around 
Bering Strait it is extremely rare, and, according to ALLEN‘, it has 
never been seen at the Pribilov Islands. Like the Greenland Seal in 
South Greenland and Labrador it must be hunted for thoice with a *¥ 
harpoon from a kayak. The walrus is the one seal which is most 
particular in the choice of its abode. It requires a not too deep 
bottom, with an abundant occurrence of testaceous animals, together 
1 Fapricius, IV, p. 82. 
2 WINGE, p. 432, 
® Murvoca, I, p. 56. 
4 ALLEN, p. 669. 
