91 CARNJVORA. 



x 



"To shoot seal," says Dr. Kane, "one must practise the Esqui- 

 maux tactics, of much patience and complete immobility. It is 

 no fun to sit motionless and noiseless as a statue, with a cold iron 

 musket in your hands, and the thermometer 10o below zero. 

 Very strange are these seal ! a countenance between the dog and 

 the ape; an expression so like that of humanity, that it makes 

 gun-murderers hesitate. At last, at long shot, 1 hit one. The 

 ball did not kill outright ; it struck too low. He did drown finally 

 and sunk, and so I lost him. Curiosity, contentment, pain, re- 

 proach, despair, and even resignation, I thought I saw on this 

 seal's face." . . . " A Danish boy who had joined us by stealth 

 at Disco, told us that the animal's sinking was a proof that he had 

 no blubber, and he was probably right." Though the orifice of 

 the ear, as we have said, contains a valve which closes, yet the 

 seal has a most delicate sense of hearing, and delights in musical 

 sounds, a fact not unknown to the ancients. Laing, in his ac- 

 count of a voyage to Spitsbergen, states that when the violin was 

 played, "a numerous audience of seals" would generally collect 

 around the vessel, following her course for miles. In allusion to 

 this peculiarity of the seal, Sir Walter Scott says, 



" Rude Heiskar's seals, through surges dark, 

 Will long pursue the minstrel's bark." 



The seal has often been domesticated, and it is said, made use 

 of in fishing. The following is among the anecdotes illustrating 

 this remark. "In January, 1819, a gentleman residing in the 

 county of Fife, Scotland, completely succeeded in taming a seal. 

 Its singularities attracted the curiosity of strangers daily. It ap- 

 peared to possess all the sagacity of a dog, lived in its master's 

 house, and ate from his hand. In his fishing excursions, this 

 gentleman generally took it with him, when it afforded no small 

 entertainment. If thrown into the water, it would follow for 

 miles, the track of the boat, and though thrust back by the oars, 

 it never relinquished its purpose. Indeed it struggled so hard to 

 regain its seat, that one would imagine its fondness for its master 

 had entirely overcome the natural predilection for its native 

 element." 



When companies of seals are seen at some distance " walking 

 the water," their heads peering above it, they assume sometimes 

 such appearances as have given rise to the stories of TRITONS, 

 SIRENS and MERMAIDS, concerning which many marvelous things 

 have been written. 



The Phoca Groenlandica, or HARP SEAL, is about six feet in 



