AND MANATEES 



and so soft that only a well-embedded harpoon will 

 retain its position. Yet, strangely enough, this skin, 

 so soft while fresh, makes the toughest of leather 

 when tanned. 



The Greenlanders kill thousands of belugas every 

 summer, and in winter the animals are caught in the nar- 

 whal ice-holes, at least half a dozen of them finding their 

 way to every hole. They are either very stupid or else 

 very timid and gentle, for they flee at lightning speed if 

 they know themselves to be pursued ; they seldom offer 

 any resistance to the harpooners, and are rarely seen 

 attempting to attack any other animal, although, like the 

 caaing, they have no objection to snapping up a hooked 

 cod-fish or ling. Shoals of them are seldom seen near the 

 coast, generally they remain in deep water or hang about 

 the entries of the fjords in wait for the salmon. The 

 little ones and the females are, as a rule, placed in the 

 middle of the shoal. The young are born black, then 

 become pink and eventually white. The name Sea- 

 canaries has often been given to them because when they 

 are under water their bellowing is deadened to a peculiar 

 bird-like whistle. 



The beluga enjoys the distinction of being the only 

 cetacean for which nets are set. At the mouths of 

 the fjords a kind of salmon-trap on a large scale is 

 moored, and a day seldom passes without several being 

 caught. The Danish Greenlanders go farther than this 

 and make some very respectable catches with the seine. 

 Its meshes are made of fine rope, each opening five or six 

 inches square, and the net is shot either from a couple of 



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