AND THE WALRUS 



supposed to cling entirely to the Arctic regions; but 

 there are few non-tropical quarters where some pinniped 

 or other may not be found. On the northern coasts of 

 the British Isles they are plentiful enough; they have 

 often been seen in numbers off the Norfolk coast even; 

 and in inland seas like the Caspian or Lake Baikal, 

 thousands of them are to be found. River estuaries and 

 narrow channels are their favourite resorts, because here 

 the fish on which they feed are less scattered about and 

 more easily obtained. For their land residence, some 

 choose sandy beaches, well sheltered from high winds; 

 some go to the other extreme and prefer a rocky, un- 

 protected shore. In fine weather they are content to lie 

 about on the beach or rocks and doze ; but when the 

 weather is rough they will scamper about and play like 

 children. 



Among the Eskimos, sealing is almost as old as the 

 people themselves ; one can no more dissociate the Eskimo 

 and the seal than one can think of the Irish peasant 

 without his pig ; there is scarcely an inch of the animal 

 that these clever Arctic folk do not utilise. The flesh is 

 tough and not sweet-smelling, yet they eat and enjoy it ; 

 they make soup of the blood, and drink such of the oil 

 as they do not use for heating and lighting. The skin 

 is, of course, made into clothes or used to cover their 

 kayaks and tents ; the tendons become bow-strings, sew- 

 ing cotton and cord, and the tissues, dried and stretched, 

 admit a certain amount of light when fastened over the 

 opening of the hut. 



The Eskimo has various methods of obtaining the 



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