450 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



SEAL-UOLE AND IGLOO. 



skill and perseverance. She, for sonie- 

 liow the male seal seems now not to be 

 noticed, has a breathing-hole through 

 the ice, to which she must come now 

 and then for air. Upon the surface of 

 the solid ice, whicii is covered witli 

 snow, the pro.spective mother constructs 

 an igloo for 1ri- progeny. She scrapes 

 olT the snow until she has formed a 

 dome, carrying away tlie snow down 

 through tlie l)ole in the ice. Upon the 

 shelf of ice surrounding the liole tlie 

 young one is born, and there it is regu- 

 larly visited by the mother. None but 

 very keen-scented animals, such as the 

 l)ear, fox, and dog, can discover such 

 an igloo. The dog sometimes captures 

 a seal. Ilall describes such an event : 

 " Ebicbing had one day been out with 

 dogs and sledge where the ice was still 

 firm, wlien suddenly a seal was noticed 

 ahead. In an instant the dogs were off towards the prey, drawing tlie sledge 

 after them at a marvellous rate. The seal for a moment acted as if frightened, 

 and kept on the ice a second or two too long, for just as he plunged, /Smile, 

 the ])est seal and hear dog I ever saw, caught him by the tail and flip])ers. The 



seal struggled violently, and so did 



Smile / but in a moment more the oth- 

 er dogs laid hold, and aided in di'agging 

 the seal out of his hole, when /Smile 

 took it in charge. The prize was se- 

 cured Avliolly by the dogs." 



Dogs seem to hunt the seal only 

 upon their master's account; but the 

 fox and the bear capture him for them- 

 selves. IIow the fox contrives to get 

 into a seal igloo we are not told ; but 

 as they manage to break open the best 

 ])acked provision-cases, we may assume 

 that they know hoAV to commit bur- 

 glary upon the igloo of a poor seal. If 

 the Innuits are to be believed, tiie way 

 the bear goes to work is this : When 

 he has scented out the precise position 

 of an igloo he goes back a little dis- 

 tance, so as to get a good lun ; and 

 then, giving a high leap, comes down 



WAITING FOR A BLOW. 



