SEALS 203 



intended to examine the intestinal parasites of 

 the seal, he was so overcome and sickened by 

 the vile-smelling excrement of our new pen- 

 sioner that he abandoned the idea. In the 

 name of hygiene, he commanded that the deck 

 should be instantly soused with water. 



So ended my day's sport. 



We preserved the captured seal aboard for 

 two months. It was confined, in the first place, 

 in one of the iron-plated casks destined for 

 pickling skins. Then, when it became more 

 used to us, we let it roam the deck. It became 

 quite familiar, following the cook or my valet, 

 Louis, who fed it like a dog. 



Being unable to supply it with fresh fish, we 

 gave it seal and bear fat, salt cod, and later, at 

 Spitzbergen, the bodies oi young guillemots, 

 which it gulped down whole. This food could 

 not have agreed with it, although it took it 

 readily enough, for, despite all our care, it 

 grew thinner and thinner. As its fat decreased 

 it took a chill, and finally died before our return 

 to Europe. 



If our return had occupied no more than a 

 month or six weeks, we could have brought it 

 back alive and in good health, because it only 

 began to grow thin and display signs of suffering 

 during the last week. 



