HABITS, PEODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 621 



sides, and the head was bent over on the neck and inclined to 

 one side. 



"In a large fjord, known as the greater Kingwak, the tide 

 runs so swiftly at one locality that it never freezes for a space 

 varying from ten to one hundred acres; here the ]S'etsick 

 gather in considerable numbers all winter, and it is a favorite 

 resort for such Eskimo as are fortunate enough to possess a 

 gun. Being but a few miles from our winter harbor, almost 

 daily excursions to these tide rifts were made by our Eskimo 

 hunters. After the 1st of March very few pregnant females 

 were killed at this place, they having by this time chosen the 

 localities for having their young. Those killed after this date 

 were all adult ' Tigak,' or old stinking males. 



" It was interesting to observe that the. young yearlings 

 and some two-year-olds, and such as had not yet arrived at 

 maturity were seldom if ever killed in this open water, but 

 lived in colonies by themselves. When an Eskimo finds a 

 number of athd's (breathing-holes) near together he always 

 marks the place by raisiug little mounds of snow near the 

 holes, for he knows that here is a colony of young animals, 

 which have better skins and meat than the old ones, and are, 

 moreover, much easier to capture. I have counted nearly sev- 

 enty of these atluks on a space of two acres. 



"When a pregnant female has chosen the place where she is 

 to have her young she makes an excavation from six to ten feet 

 in length under the snow, and from three to five feet wide, the 

 height varying with the thickness of the snow covering ; the 

 atluk is at one extremity of this excavation, and in such a po- 

 sition that it is always a ready channel of retreat in case of 

 danger. 



"The first young were found in the Cumberland waters 

 during the first days of March ; still, I have taken a foetus 

 from the mother in the middle of Ai^ril. The most profitable 

 time for hunting the young Seal is during the mouth of April. 

 After this date they have shed so much that the skins are 

 nearly worthless till the hispid hair has got to be of the proper 

 length, when they are considered as the prime article and sec- 

 ond only to the young of Callocephalus vituUnus in quality. 

 . "The first young one that had begun to shed was taken 

 April 15. I have seen exami)les that were nearly or quite des- 

 titute of the white coat, but still uot haviug the uext coat in 

 sight. Such specimens were found to have a very fine coat of 



