SEALS 195 



sometimes resting on the ice. From the distance 

 they appear like coffee beans dotted over the 

 snow, extending away to the horizon. The 

 females congregate towards the middle of April 

 on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and at 

 Jan Mayen. Their young, whose skin is at 

 first quite white, cannot enter the water until 

 they are fifteen days old. This is the period 

 when the enemies of the species attack them. 



A flotilla of Norwegian and English ships 

 make for that part of the ice-field where the 

 young are to be found ; the sailors then land, 

 and during several days kill the young seals 

 with clubs. 



Such a massacre is repugnant in the extreme, 

 and, notwithstanding the restrictive laws the 

 Powers have passed to limit such slaughter, 

 from three to five hundred thousand seals are 

 destroyed in this way every spring. As the 

 female bears only one, or at the best two, 

 young ones, it is surprising, considering all the 

 circumstances, that the species has not yet dis- 

 appeared from the Arctic regions. As a matter 

 of fact, however, they are still so numerous 

 that, notwithstanding these periodical heca- 

 tombs, the Norwegians contrive to shoot even a 

 still greater number of adult seals during the 

 summer. 



