SEALS 175 



hunting seals is to stalk them when they are on 

 the ice, and shoot them. The shooting is by 

 no means easy, considering that more often 

 than not the hunter must shoot from a whaling 

 boat, balanced to a greater or lesser degree on a 

 wave, the animal, too, being more often than 

 not in motion. 



I have never surprised a seal sleeping on 

 the ice. Whether they be on their backs or 

 their bellies, in the sun or in the fog, every half 

 minute they raise their heads to look about them. 

 They never relax their watchfulness as does the 

 walrus, which sleeps soundly when alone. I do 

 not know whether seals sleep in the water ; a 

 Greenland phoca I kept alive for two months 

 leads me to think that they do. Be this as it 

 may, on the ice they never close their eyes for 

 more than half a minute. They resemble 

 greatly the over-weary traveller who lets his 

 head fall on his chest, raises it again a second 

 later, looks about him, then again falls asleep 

 for an instant. 



Further, these animals, to whatever species 

 they may belong, rest always on the edge of an 

 ice hole, their heads overhanging the water in 

 such a fashion that they can dive at the first 

 sign of danger. When occupying floating ice, 

 they lie with their heads almost in the water, 



